Business World

S&P 500 slips as Irma nears Florida

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— The S&P 500 ended slightly lower on Friday as investors braced for potential damage from hurricane Irma as it drove toward Florida, while a decline in big tech names like Apple and Facebook pushed the Nasdaq down more sharply.

The Dow eked out a gain, helped by a 4% rise in shares of insurer Travelers.

Insurer shares rose broadly, with the Dow Jones US Insurance Index up 2.10%, recouping some losses after being under pressure recently as the southern United States braced for another powerful storm closely on the heels of hurricane Harvey.

Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, lashed Cuba and the Bahamas as it drove toward Florida, while US off icials were preparing a massive response to the storm.

“Investors are really in a waitand-see mode given their concern about the impact of hurricane Irma on Florida and wherever else it ends up going,” said Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis.

“Overall, we are seeing the market and investors sort of hunker down to see what the damage and destructio­n turns out to be.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13.01 points, or 0.06%, to 21,797.79, the S&P 500 lost 3.67 points, or 0.15%, to 2,461.43 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 37.68 points, or 0.59%, to 6,360.19.

The tech sector, which has outperform­ed all other major groups this year, ended down 0.90%. Shares of Apple were down 1.60% while shares of Facebook fell 1.30%.

Energy shares fell 1.10% as oil prices dropped on worries that commerce and energy demand in Florida and the southeast would be hit hard due to Irma.

Shares of Home Depot and Lowe’s Cos., which have gained amid of the arrival of the storms, rose on Friday. The stocks were up 1.10% each.

Major indices all posted declines for the week after two weeks of gains.

Geopolitic­al concerns kept investors on edge as South Korea prepared for a possible further missile test by North Korea on Saturday, days after its sixth and largest nuclear test.

“It’s a confluence of concerns that have been hovering over the market, everything from North Korea… and obviously the hurricane and the damage that will ensue,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.

Despite macro concerns, the benchmark S&P 500 still is within about 1% of its all- time closing high as investors point to strong corporate earnings and solid economic data as supporting stocks. Equifax was the biggest percentage loser on the S&P, falling 13.70%, after the provider of consumer credit scores said personal details of as many as 143 million US consumers were hacked. Kroger shares ended down 7.50% after the biggest US supermarke­t owner reported a quarterly profit drop amid an intensifyi­ng grocery price war.

Declining issues outnumbere­d advancing ones on the NYSE by 1.19- to-1; on Nasdaq, a 1.01- to-1 ratio favored advancers. About six billion shares changed hands in US exchanges, above the 5.80 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. —

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