US stocks end lower amid bond market volatility
Trader Jonathan Corpina works at the post that handles AOL on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, May 12, 2015. Wall Street stocks finished lower Tuesday as worries over higher US Treasury bond yields offset Verizon’s $4.4 billion takeover of AOL. AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW
NEW YORK–Wall Street stocks finished lower Tuesday as worries over higher US Treasury bond yields offset Verizon’s $4.4 billion takeover of AOL.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 36.94 points (0.20 percent) to 18,068.23.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 6.21 (0.29 percent) at 2,099.12, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 17.38 (0.35 percent) at 4,976.19.
US stocks fell sharply early in the season on spiking bond yields, but cut those losses later in the day as yields retreated a bit.
“The market is sort of catching its breath today and waiting for some data tomorrow,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at S&P Capital IQ.
Key data Wednesday include the US retail sales report for April.
AOL shot up 18.6 percent on news the Internet pioneer would be bought by Verizon in an effort to boost the telecom giant’s presence in online media and advertising. Verizon fell 0.4 percent.
Oil-services companies benefited from higher crude prices. Halliburton added 0.6 percent, Transocean rose 3.3 percent and Weatherford International advanced 1.5 percent.
Apparel retailer Gap lost 3.8 percent as global comparable sales in April 2015 tumbled 12 percent compared with last year.
Pall, which manufactures filtration and separation equipment, surged 19.4 percent on a report that the company could be acquired for $13 billion or more. Potential buyers include Danaher Corp. and Thermo Fisher Scientific, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Insurer PartnerRe gained 0.8 percent as the Italian investment firm Exor raised its bid for the company from $6.4 billion to $6.8 billion.
Cloud computing company Rackspace Hosting plummeted 13.5 percent after reporting that first-quarter net income rose 11.8 percent to $28.4 million. Analysts cited a disappointing sales outlook.
Bond prices advanced. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury dipped to 2.25 percent from 2.28 percent Monday, while the 30-year dropped to 3.02 percent from 3.05 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
