After best week, stocks see losses
Stocks ended with small losses Monday after coming off their best week in 2015.
Technology stocks fell more than the rest of the market. Pfizer and Allergan slipped after announcing a deal to combine and create the world’s largest drug company. Video game retailer GameStop skidded after reporting weak results.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 31.13 points, or 0.2%, to 17,792.68. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index declined 2.58 points, or 0.1%, to 2,086.59. The Nasdaq composite fell 2.44 points, or 0.1%, to 5,102.48.
The S&P 500 index rose 3.3% last week, lifted by good news from retailers and tech stocks. That was its largest weekly gain since last December. However, it wasn’t quite enough to cancel out the big loss that the S&P suffered the previous week.
Pfizer gave up 85 cents, or 2.6%, to $31.33 and Allergan fell $10.74, or 3.4%, to $301.72. The companies said last month that they were discussing a combination, and Allergan shares are up about 6% since then while Pfizer stock has lost 11%.
Apple dragged down the technology sector as its stock fell $1.55, or 1.3%, to $117.75.
GameStop slipped after it reported a smaller quarterly profit and less revenue than analysts had forecast. The company said sales of new games and game systems weren’t as good as it expected, and sales were also hurt by delays in opening some stores. Its shares slid $1.65, or 4.2%, to $37.61.
Video game maker Electronic Arts fell after GameStop’s announcement, losing $3.44, or 4.8%, to $68.98.
Chipotle Mexican Grill rebounded $23.10, or 4.3%, to $559.29. The stock dropped 12% and set an annual low Friday on reports that an E. coli outbreak linked to its restaurants had spread.
Amazon rose $10.54, or 1.6%, to $678.99 days before Black Friday. Macy’s, which like many retailers has taken a beating on fears that the holiday shopping season will be weak, rose $1.44, or 3.7%, to $40.04.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 15 cents, or 0.4%, to close at $41.75 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, rose 17 cents, or 0.4%, to $44.83 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline added 2.3 cents to $1.313 a gallon. Natural gas rose 6.5 cents, or 3%, to $2.21 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Metals prices are mired in a slump that has taken them to their lowest prices in six years. That continued Monday, as gold fell $9.50, or 0.9%, to $1,066.80 an ounce and silver lost 6 cents, or 0.5%, to $14.03 an ounce.
U.S. government bond prices rose slightly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.24% from 2.26%. The dollar rose to 122.85 yen from 122.84 yen. The euro declined to $1.0625 from $1.0657 on Friday.