Business World

GE, energy weigh on Wall Street

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NEW YORK — US stocks ticked lower on Friday as weak earnings from industrial giant General Electric (GE) weighed, while tech shares retreated from record highs and energy tracked the price of oil lower.

GE shares fell 2.90% to $25.91 and hit their lowest level since October 2015. The company reported a nearly 60% slump in profit and said its full year profit and cash flow will be at the low end of its forecasts. Peers in the industrial sector, such as Caterpilla­r and 3M, also fell.

But Honeywell touched a record high and ended up 1% at $136.35 after it raised the low-end of its profit forecast.

“We’ve had a good run for the last few weeks and investors are primarily digesting earnings today,” said Erick Ormsby, chief executive of Alcosta Capital Management. “GE’s results were okay but they guided lower and that’s weighing on the market, too.”

The S&P 500 energy sector fell more than a percent as oil prices lost nearly 3%, after a consultanc­y report forecast a rise in production of the Organizati­on of the Petroleum Exporting Countries members for July despite the cartel’s pledge to curb output.

The S&P 500 technology sector slipped after posting two consecutiv­e record closing highs. The Nasdaq Composite was on track to cap a 10- day streak of gains, its best since February 2015, after closing at a record high on Thursday.

Tech continues to be the best performing S&P sector this year despite concerns over stretched valuations.

Microsoft shares fell 0.60 to $ 73.79 despite a strong earnings beat after the bell Thursday, propped in large part by its fast- growing cloud computing business.

Analysts expect S&P 500 earnings to have climbed 9.60% year over year, above the 8% rise projected at the start of the month, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 31.71 points, or 0.15%, to 21,580.07; the S&P 500 lost 0.91 points, or 0.04%, to 2,472.54 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.25 points, or 0.04%, to 6,387.75.

The S&P and the Nasdaq rose for a third straight week.

Capital One reported a profit beat, helped by growth in card loans and net interest income. Its shares rose 8.60 to $87.94, it’s biggest daily percentage gain in eight years.

Visa rose 1.50% to $99.60. The world’s largest payments network operator raised its annual earnings forecast.

“What’s important is the directiona­lity of earnings, and earnings are going up. We’ve transition­ed from an interest rate-driven secular bull market to an earnings- driven secular bull market,” said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James Financial in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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