Stocks end mixed; bond prices climb
U.S. stocks hardly budged Monday as smaller firms and retailers rose while healthcare companies and banks declined. Chemical and mining companies rose as the dollar weakened.
Precious metals rose as the dollar, already at its lowest levels in almost a year, weakened a bit further. Bond yields slipped, sending banks lower and high-dividend stocks such as utilities and household goods companies higher.
Investors expect another solid round of corporate earnings, and they think the Federal Reserve will be more cautious about raising interest rates because of some weak economic data, including Friday’s report on retail sales.
“The fundamental picture for investors seems to be sort of strangely perfect, with improving fundamentals and a central bank with its foot that was only weakly on the gas coming off the gas,” said Katie Nixon, chief investment officer for Wealth Management at Northern Trust.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 0.13 points to 2,459.14. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 8.02 points to 21,629.72. The Nasdaq composite gained 1.97 points to 6,314.43. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 2.79 points, or 0.2%, to 1,431.60.
After the end of regular trading, Netflix said it picked up 5.2 million subscribers in the second quarter. The streaming video company’s stock jumped 11% in after-hours trading. FedEx said shipping volumes for its TNT Express business are down and customers are still experiencing delays after the business was hit by a cyberattack in late June. The company’s stock fell $3.58, or 1.6%, to $215.48.
Meal kit company Blue Apron tumbled after the Sunday Times reported that Amazon is getting ready to launch its own meal-prep business. The British newspaper reported that Amazon registered a trademark for a food kit business. Blue Apron shares fell 77 cents, or 10.5%, to $6.59 while Amazon added $8.23 to $1,010.04.
The dollar rose to 112.66 yen from 112.56 yen. The euro rose to $1.1480 from $1.1467.
Gold rose $6.20 to $1,233.70 an ounce. Silver gained 17 cents, or 1%, to $16.10 an ounce.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.31% from 2.33%.
Benchmark U.S. crude lost 52 cents, or 1.1%, to $46.02 a barrel in New York. Brent crude fell 49 cents, or 1%, to $48.42 a barrel in London.
London’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.3% while the French CAC 40 shed 0.1%. Germany’s DAX finished 0.4% lower. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.3% and the Kospi of South Korea added 0.4%. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.