Stocks Continue Slide, Bonds Rise

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks continued to fall Wednesday morning as investors snap up bonds. Yields on long-term Treasury notes remained near all-time lows. The prices of gold and silver, which are around two-year highs, rose further. Phone company stocks and banks took some of the biggest losses.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 71 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,770 as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 8 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,080. The Nasdaq composite dipped 7 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,815.

BONDS: Bond yields continued to trade near all-time lows as investors seek safety following Britain's vote to leave the European Union. The demand is keeping bond prices high and yields low. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was little changed from late Tuesday at 1.38 percent. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell to 2.14 percent from 2.15 percent. According to Tradeweb, both yields set all-time lows earlier on Wednesday of 1.32 percent and 2.10 percent, respectively.

Many other countries' government bond yields were also at record lows, with those of Germany and Japan below zero.

MELROSE'S PLACE: Nortek, which makes heating and ventilation systems for buildings, agreed to be acquired by Melrose Industries PLC for $86 per share, or $1.4 billion. Nortek stock jumped $24.57, or 39.3 percent, to $87.06.

HANGING UP: Phone company stocks took the biggest losses. Considered a safe investment, they are the best-performing sector on the S&P 500 over the last month, and AT&T and Verizon are both trading at long-time highs. Frontier Communications gave up 14 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $4.85.

GOLDEN: The price of gold rose $11.30 to $1,370 an ounce, and silver gained 17 cents to $20.08 an ounce. Gold is trading at its highest price since March 2014 while silver is at its highest price since August of that year. Newmont Mining gained 45 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $40.83.

CURRENCIES: The British pound continued to weaken. It's at its lowest in more than 30 year and fell to $1.2930 from $1.3032 Wednesday. The dollar fell to 101.04 yen from 101.55 yen on Tuesday. The euro dipped to $1.1062 from $1.1075.

OVERSEAS: Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.5 percent while France's CAC and Germany's DAX both lost 2 percent. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 and South Korea's Kospi each lost 1.9 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 1.2 percent.

UK WATCH: Concerns have grown over the potential economic costs of Britain's decision to leave the EU. Investors this week rushed to sell out of funds that own British commercial real estate, which had been inflated by foreign money in recent years. Mark Carney, the Bank of England governor, said that some of the risks to the economy predicted before the referendum had begun to crystalize.

OIL: Energy prices were little changed. Benchmark U.S. crude slipped 23 cents to $46.35 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 42 cents to $47.54 a barrel in London.

(KA)