Energy stocks drag Wall Street as oil falls; euro gains against euro

Gold edges towards 3-month low

Chevron dropped about 1 percent.

Macy’s fell as much as 14.7 percent to $40.10 after the company reported a 3.6 percent drop in quarterly same-store sales and slashed its full-year sales and profit forecasts. Analysts had expected a rise in same-store sales.

Shares of other retailers also fell. JC Penney dropped as much as 5 percent to $8.24 despite a 6.4 percent rise in samestore sales. Nordstrom, Dillard’s and Kohl’s dropped between 5 and 7 percent.

Alibaba’s shares — which up to Tuesday had risen more than 40 percent since Sept 29 — slipped 3 percent to $79 even though the e-commerce giant said sales in its Singles’ Day online shopping event on Wednesday hit a record $14.32 billion. Sales in the event last year totaled $9.3 billion.

US bond markets are closed on Wednesday for Veteran’s Day, adding to the muted trading.

At 11:27 am ET (1627 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 37.65 points, or 0.21 percent, at 17,720.56, the S&P 500 was down 3.96 points, or 0.19 percent, at 2,077.76 and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 5.36 points, or 0.11 percent, at 5,077.89.

Apache Corp fell 5.9 percent to $50.16 after Anadarko Petroleum confirmed its offer to buy the company had been rejected. Anadarko was down 2.4 percent at $61.91.

Horizon Pharma slumped 19 percent to $18.03 after prescription drug plan manager Express Scripts removed a pharmacy connected to Horizon from its network.

Boston Scientific fell 3.3 percent to $18.18 after the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed limited reimbursement coverage for a type of heart device, including the company’s recently approved Watchman device.

Europe European shares rose on Wednesday after well-received earnings reports from companies including Henkel and as Carlsberg’s new management outlined restructuring plans, sending the brewing group’s shares soaring.

The FTSEurofirst 300 rose 0.7 percent, adding to a 0.2 percent gain in the previous session. The index is down 0.4 percent this week on fears of a possible interest rate rise by the US Federal Reserve in December after strong jobs data.

With European stocks near threemonth highs, some said there was enough bullish sentiment to withstand a rise in rates.

Denmark’s Carlsberg rose as much as 9 percent after it said it would book a $1.4 billion impairment charge and cut staff to return to growth. Analysts welcomed the steps, saying the brewer’s earnings contained no negative surprises. Shares in the brewer were last up 6.2 percent.

Henkel rose 7.5 percent after the German consumer goods group posted a bigger-than-expected increase in thirdquarter profit.

Supermarket group Ahold also rose after results, gaining 3.6 percent after meeting net sales forecasts and reporting free cash flow that was ahead of last year. Belgium’s Delhaize got a boost from its merger partner’s results.

However, not all earnings were well received.

Vivendi was down 7 percent after the French media company reported lower third-quarter operating profit after the market close on Tuesday, as its music and pay-television units struggled with competition and subscriber losses.

It also posted weaker-than-expected profits.

Mediaset fell more than 9 percent after the TV broadcaster, controlled by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, raised its cost guidance and gave a cautious outlook for the fourth quarter.

Osram shares tumbled 29 percent, its biggest one-day fall, after the German lighting group announced a 3 billion-euro growth plan following the disposal of its lamps business.

In all, earnings season has been mixed. With roughly four fifths of companies having reported results, 50 percent of them have missed expectations, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine data.

UK Britain’s top equity index advanced on Wednesday, lifted by credit data company Experian and SABMiller, which rose after AB InBev launched its $100 billionplus bid for SAB.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended up 0.4 percent at 6,297.20 points. The index is down around 4 percent since the start of 2015, and nearly 12 percent below a record high reached in April after concerns about a slowdown in China, the world’s second-biggest economy, knocked back global stock markets.

Credit data company Experian was among the top FTSE 100 performers, rising 2.3 percent after a price target upgrade from broker Citigroup. The stock had already surged on Tuesday following strong results from the company.

SABMiller also progressed 1.9 percent after AB InBev launched its $100 billionplus takeover bid on Wednesday and agreed to sell SABMiller’s 58 percent stake in US joint venture MillerCoors.

Supermarket operator Sainsbury slid 7.1 percent after reporting a drop in firsthalf profits and announcing plans to cut more prices to close the gap on fastgrowing discounters Aldi and Lidl.

“Despite all the positive talk about strategy delivery, Sainsbury continues to lose sales and market share and reduce margins thereby reducing return on capital. Sainsbury expects the tough background to be maintained through the second half so respite is still some way off,” said David Stoddart, analyst at Edison Investment Research.

Telecoms provider Talktalk, which is in the FTSE 250 mid-cap index, jumped 13.2 percent.

TalkTalk’s shares slumped in October after the company fell victim to a cyber attack, but the stock recovered on Wednesday after TalkTalk raised its interim dividend by 15 percent and maintained its guidance for this financial year.

Asia Shanghai stocks managed to lead a regional advance on Wednesday as more Chinese figures indicating weakness in the world’s number two economy spurred hopes Beijing will unveil fresh measures to spur growth.

The broadly positive mood on trading floors also helped emerging currencies recover slightly against the dollar after rallying since Friday’s US jobs data ramped up expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates this year.

Shanghai ended the day in positive territory, as did Tokyo and Sydney, although Hong Kong retreated.

Despite ongoing weaknesses in the global economy, the Fed has been widely tipped to increase borrowing costs as it looks to prevent bubbles appearing at home.

Oil Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday after industry data showed an increase in US stockpiles, and as analysts said US output had been surprisingly resilient in the face of lower prices.

Brent crude futures were down 34 cents at $47.10 a barrel by 1446 GMT, though they recovered from a low of $47.00 set earlier in the session, supported by a weaker dollar.

A lower dollar supports oil, priced in the US currency, as it makes it more affordable for holders of different currencies. Benchmark US crude futures slipped to a two-week low at $43.55 a barrel in early trading before recovering to trade down 43 cents at $43.78 a barrel

US crude stocks jumped by 6.3 million barrels in the week to Nov 6 to 486.1 million barrels, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed late on Tuesday, compared with analyst expectations for an increase of 1 million barrels.

OPEC member Ecuador’s oil minister said at an Arab-South American summit in Riyadh on Wednesday the only way to balance the market was to cut production and it aimed to reach an agreement on that at the group’s December meeting.

At the same meeting, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi discussed markets with his Venezuelan counterpart Eulogio del Pino, he told Reuters.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pressed his desire to convene a meeting of world oil producers to revive sub-$50 a barrel oil prices that have walloped his economy.

Gold Gold edged down towards a threemonth low on Wednesday, failing to benefit from a softer dollar, as pressure from an anticipated US rate hike as soon as next month persisted.

Platinum also came under pressure, sliding to its lowest in nearly seven years as investors continued to liquidate holdings of exchange-traded funds.

Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,086.31 an ounce by 1457 GMT, while US gold futures for December delivery were down $2.40 an ounce at $1,086.10.

Increasing bets the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in December for the first time in nearly a decade sent bullion, a non-interest-paying asset, to $1,084.90 an ounce on Friday, the lowest since August.