Wal-Mart, Cisco Results Cause Stock Dip
NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are lower Thursday morning as investors fail to get excited by quarterly reports from big names like retailer Wal-Mart and technology bellwether Cisco Systems. Most industries are slipping, with some of the biggest losses going to technology and industrial companies, retailers and banks. After dramatic moves late last week and earlier this week, stocks appear to have returned to the pattern of small moves that has marked this year.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 12 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,455 as of 11 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average declined 90 points, or 0.4 percent, to 21,934. The Nasdaq composite lost 47 points, or 0.7 percent, to 6,298. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 3 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,379.
WAL-MART HITS A WALL: Wal-Mart Stores did better than analysts expected in the second quarter as shoppers spent more money on its website and more people came to its stores. Wal-Mart stock has rallied over the last month, but Thursday's results weren't enough to keep that going. The stock lost $1.56, or 1.9 percent, to $79.42 although it is still up 8 percent since July 10.
Other retailers slipped as well. Amazon fell $9.22 to $968.96 and Macy's lost 36 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $19.78.
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STRIPPED BARE: L Brands, the parent of Victoria's Secret, tumbled after it cut its annual profit guidance because of weakening sales. The company said sales at its older stores dropped 8 percent, which was worse than it expected. L Brands has been slipping all year because of the difficult business conditions for retailers and its own struggles after it stopped selling swimwear. The stock retreated $3.68, or 9.4 percent, to $35.27 and it's down 46 percent this year.
ROUTER OUTAGE: Cisco Systems fell $1.35, or 4.2 percent, to $30.99 after it said sales will decline in the current quarter. It's expecting a decline of 1 to 3 percent from the $12.4 billion in revenue it reported a year ago.
Data storage company NetApp offered a forecast for the current quarter that disappointed investors. Its stock lost $2.65, or 6.2 percent, to $39.76. Elsewhere, Apple retreated $1.70, or 1.1 percent, to $159.25 while software maker Adobe Systems skidded $2.41, or 1.6 percent, to $149.39 and chipmaker Texas Instruments fell $1.18, or 1.4 percent, to $81.28.
NOT A RENTAL: United Rentals said it will buy smaller competitor Neff for $25 a share, or $596 million. Neff said earlier this week that it received an offer but did not name the buyer. Neff had previously accepted an offer of $21.07 a share from H&E Equipment Services, which declined to make a bigger offer. United Rentals climbed $1.72, or 1.5 percent, to $113.69.
BONDS: Bond prices inched higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.22 percent from 2.23 percent.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 17 cents to $46.61 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 6 cents to $50.33 a barrel in London.
CURRENCIES: The dollar dipped to 109.83 yen from 110.16 yen. The euro fell to $1.1731 from $1.1769.
OVERSEAS: Germany's DAX fell 0.5 percent and the CAC 40 of France shed 0.6 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 also gave up 0.6 percent. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1 percent lower and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.2 percent. In South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.6 percent.
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