Retailers Stumble; Stocks Down Slightly
(AP) -- U.S. stocks are mostly lower Tuesday as sporting goods companies and car parts retailers slump and small companies struggle. Bond prices are falling and yields are climbing, which is giving banks a lift. Major indexes are little changed as technology and household goods companies rise. Stocks are coming off their biggest one-day gain in more than three months as the market recovered from last week's turmoil.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 1 point, or 0.1 percent, to 2,467 as of 3:25 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average picked up 25 points, or 0.1 percent, to 22,018. Nasdaq composite remained at 6,340. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks shed 7 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,386.
AIR BALL: Dick's Sporting Goods cut its annual forecast after a weak second quarter. The sporting goods chain said athletic apparel sales were weak and that it plans to do more marketing and cut prices as it tries to keep its market share. Its stock plunged $7.71, or 22.1 percent, to $27.20.
Foot Locker fell $1.99, or 4 percent, to $47.33 and Hibbett Sports dropped $2.17, or 15.6 percent, to $11.78. Athletic apparel companies also lost ground. Nike shed $1.03, or 2.2 percent, to $58.48 and Under Armour lost 55 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $16.56.
PARKED: Auto parts retailer Advance Auto Parts tumbled after it slashed its annual forecasts. The company and its competitors are facing weakening demand because car sales are slowing down from their recent record pace. Meanwhile competition from online retailers is growing. Advance Auto Parts dropped $22.19, or 20.3 percent, to $87.13. AutoZone sank $9.64, or 1.8 percent, to $515.68 and O'Reilly Automotive gave up $2.10, or 1.1 percent, to $196.34. All three have taken steep losses this year.
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THE QUOTE: "Especially in the month of August, when not as many investors are around, you get a lot of this group trading," said Brian Nagel, analyst who covers retailers for Oppenheimer & Co. He said that while there is very little that ties together companies like Dick's and Home Depot, investors often sell all kinds of retailers when one part of the industry struggles.
BERKSHIRE BUYING AND SELLING: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought stock in consumer credit company Synchrony Financial and picked up more shares of Bank of New York Mellon. It sold its remaining shares of General Electric and continued to reduce its stake in IBM. Synchrony gained $1.37, or 4.6 percent, to $31.01 and Bank of New York Mellon picked up 44 cents to $53.27. GE fell 21 cents to $25.15.
RETAIL WOES: Home improvement retailer Home Depot lost $4.08, or 2.6 percent, to $150.18 in spite of a solid quarterly report. Rival Lowe's also gave up $3.03, or 3.9 percent, to $73.69.
Luxury retailer Coach tumbled after its fourth-quarter sales and its profit forecast for the current fiscal year came up short of analyst estimates. Its shares fell $6.93, or 14.5 percent, to $40.99.
BONDS: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.26 percent from 2.22 percent. Fifth Third Bancorp rose 37 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $27.05 and Discover Financial Services added $1.52, or 2.5 percent, to $62.03.
DRILLING DOWN: Offshore oil drilling rig company Transocean said it will buy Songa Offshore for $1.2 billion in cash. The deal expands Transocean's backlog as it continues to deal with low oil prices, but it will saddle the company with even more debt. Transocean had about $6.6 billion in long-term debt at the end of June, and investors value the company at about $3 billion. Its stock gave up 44 cents, or 5.2 percent, to $7.95.
ECONOMICS: Retailers of all kinds were trading lower even though the Commerce Department said consumers did far more shopping in July, as retail sales grew by the biggest amount this year. Those sales have not been great in 2017. Since consumer spending accounts for around 70 percent of economic activity, the latest result is a good sign for overall economic growth.
ENERGY: U.S. crude oil lost 4 cents to $47.55 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, added 7 cents to $50.80 a barrel in London. Energy companies fell as well. Schlumberger fell 52 cents to $63.44 and Occidental Petroleum declined 55 cents to $60.69.
Wholesale gasoline remained at $1.58 a gallon. Heating oil lost 1 cent to $1.60 a gallon. Natural gas fell 2 cents to $2.94 per 1,000 cubic feet.
METALS: Gold fell $10.70 to $1,279.70 an ounce. Silver lost 41 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $16.71 an ounce. Copper shed 2 cent to $2.88 a pound.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 110.58 yen from 109.63 yen. The euro fell to $1.1734 from $1.1782.
OVERSEAS: France's CAC 40 was up 0.4 percent and the German DAX rose 0.1 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 was 0.4 percent higher. In Japan the benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.1 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.3 percent. Markets in South Korea were closed for a national holiday.
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