Poor earnings at Sprint, Priceline push US stocks lower
Trader Richard Cohen works near the post that handles Alibaba on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. Shares of Sprint and Priceline tumbled Tuesday following disappointing earnings to help push the broad US equity market down, but buyers sent the blue chips of the Dow higher. AP
NEW YORK–Shares of Sprint and Priceline tumbled Tuesday following disappointing earnings to help push the broad US equity market down, but buyers sent the blue chips of the Dow higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 17.60 points (0.10 percent) at 17,383.84.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 5.71 (0.28 percent) to 2,012.10, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 15.27 (0.33 percent) to 4,623.64.
Sprint sank 16.5 percent as it announced it was slashing 2,000 jobs after reporting a $765 million loss in its fiscal second quarter.
Priceline tumbled 8.4 percent as it forecast fourth-quarter earnings of $9.40-$10.10 per share, well below the $10.91 projected by analysts. Rival online travel companies TripAdivsor (-1.7 percent) and Expedia (-2.4 percent) also fell.
Tuesday’s trade followed lackluster US economic data. New orders for US manufactured goods dropped $2.8 billion, or 0.6 percent, to $499.4 billion in September, the Commerce Department reported.
The US trade deficit widened in September to $43.0 billion as exports slowed and imports remained flat from the previous month.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba rose 4.2 percent after it reported a 15 percent gain in third-quarter profits to $1.1 billion in its first earnings release since going public.
Petroleum stocks fell as US oil prices sank further below $80 a barrel. Dow member Chevron fell 1.2 percent, oil services company Weatherford International lost 7.6 percent and drilling company Transocean dropped 5.3 percent.
Delta Air Lines jumped 4.2 percent after reporting a three percent rise in consolidated passenger unit revenue in October, a closely watched industry benchmark. American Airlines and United Continental both gained 1.7 percent.
Apparel-maker Michael Kors slumped 8.4 percent on a disappointing outlook. The company forecast earnings of $1.31-$1.34 per share, compared with analyst projections for $1.34.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.34 percent from 2.35 percent Monday, while the 30-year dropped to 3.05 percent from 3.07 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
