Airlines, tech slip; utility stocks rise
U.S. stocks spent a second day flipping between gains and losses Thursday as investors again looked for hints about the Trump administration’s stance on international trade and the dollar. Major indexes ended the day mixed; airlines plunged while biotech drugmakers climbed.
Home builders fell sharply after the Commerce Department said sales of new homes dropped in December. Airlines suffered a second day of sharp losses as investors worried about rising costs and the possibility of lower airfares. Retailers and technology companies slipped, but healthcare companies rose.
High-dividend stocks such as utilities rallied. Bond yields’ decline made those stocks more attractive to investors seeking income.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Dow Jones industrial average rose enough to set records, but stocks have wobbled as investors monitored the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to get a sense of how the Trump administration’s nationalist stance might affect global trade.
Julian Emanuel, chief equity and derivatives strategist for BTIG, said investors have mostly tuned out political news in the last year, but after a stretch of historic calm in the markets, volatility is rising slightly.
Stocks have been setting record highs for more than a year, and the S&P 500 is up 6.2% this month. It’s on track for its biggest monthly gain since March 2016, a time when the market was recovering after a sharp plunge.
Among airlines, Alaska Air slid 4.1% to $62.07 and Southwest Airlines fell 3.2% to $60.19.
The Commerce Department said sales of new homes fell more than 9% in December, partly because of severely cold weather. Home builder NVR sank 6.6% to $3,350, and Lennar fell 3.3% to $68.47.
Newell Brands, which makes Sharpie pens and Elmer’s glue, plunged 20.6% to $24.81 — its lowest price in almost five years — after it again lowered its forecasts for 2017 and said it will consider selling businesses including Rubbermaid. Newell also said three directors had resigned from its board.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.62% from 2.65%.
The European Central Bank didn’t make changes to its stimulus programs.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 10 cents to $65.51 a barrel. Brent crude rose 41 cents to $70.94 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline stayed at $1.92 a gallon. Heating oil rose 1 cent to $2.12 a gallon. Natural gas fell 6 cents to $3.45 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Gold ticked up $6.60 to $1,362.90 an ounce, its highest price since August 2016. Silver rose 13 cents to $17.62 an ounce. Copper fell 1 cent to $3.22 a pound.