Market trails after energy and tech stocks fall
NEWYORK— U.S. stock indexes closed moderately lower Friday following three days of gains. Several technology stocks traded heavily, including Yahoo, Twitter and Facebook.
Twitter soared $3.99, or 21 percent, to $22.62 after business networkCNBC reported that the company is in talks with Salesforce and Google’s parent company Alphabet for a possible sale.
Twitter has failed to keep pace with Facebook and Snapchat as far as growth and a loyal fan base are concerned.
Salesforce said it doesn’t comment on rumors, and Google did not respond to a request to talk about a possible deal.
Energy stocks also fell along with a steep decline in the price of oil.
The DowJones industrial average lost 131.01 points, or 0.7 percent, to 18,261.45. The Standard& Poor’s 500 index lost 12.49 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,164.69 and theNasdaq composite index lost 33.78, or 0.6 percent, to 5,305.75.
Stocks posted solid gains this week, with the S&P 500 up1.2 percent, as investorswere relieved that the Federal Reserve decided to keep rates at their current low level.
The next time the Fed could raise rates isNovember, but the general impression among investors is the central bank will not raise rates until December, long after the general election.
“As much as market fundamentals matter, the Fed and its decisions continue to dominate markets,” said KristinaHooper, head of U.S. investment strategies at Allianz Global Investors.
Several technology stocks made bigmoves as investorsworked through company-specific news on Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo.
Facebook fell $2.12, or 1.6 percent, to $127.96 after TheWall Street Journal reported that the companywas overstating howlong userswerewatching video ads, raising concerns that a portion of Facebook’s ad revenue may be at risk.
Yahoo fell $1.35, or 3.1 percent, to $42.80 after the company admitted the data of 500 million userswere stolen by a foreign agent, much more than it previously acknowledged.
Though Yahoo has previously agreed to sell most of its assets to Verizon, therewere concerns that this development may cause Verizon to go back to the negotiation table.
While stocks rose thisweek, most of the gainswere in safe, dividend-rich companies that investors favorwhen they’re uncertain about the economy.
The DowJones utility indexwas up 3.3 percent thisweek, and the newly created real estate component of the S&P 500, made up of real estate investment trusts, rose 4.3 percent.
Oil prices fell sharply after reports that Saudi Arabiawas unable to reach an agreement with Iran to cut production. U.S. benchmark crude oil futures closed down $1.84 to $44.48 a barrel on theNew York Mercantile Exchange.
In other energy trading, heating oil fell 5 cents to $1.41per gallon, wholesale gasoline fell 2 cents to $1.38 a gallon and natural gas fell 3.5 cents to $2.955 per thousand cubic feet. Oil prices fell sharply after reports that Saudi Arabia was unable to reach an agreement with Iran to cut production. U.S. benchmark crude oil futures closed down $1.84 to $44.48