Market report

Stocks mostly off balance, close lower

Mac Riley (center), son of Square CFO Sarah Friar, rings a ceremonial bell Thursday to mark the start of trading of shares of Square on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The shares rose $4.07 to close at $13.07.
Mac Riley (center), son of Square CFO Sarah Friar, rings a ceremonial bell Thursday to mark the start of trading of shares of Square on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The shares rose $4.07 to close at $13.07.

U.S. stocks closed slightly lower Thursday after spending much of the day wavering between small gains and losses.

Several companies reported earnings and outlooks that offered a mixed picture of the economy for investors.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 4.41 points, or 0.02 percent, to 17,732.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 2.34 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,081.24. The Nasdaq composite lost 1.56 points, or 0.03 percent, to 5,073.64.

Health care stocks were among the biggest decliners, dragged down after UnitedHealth Group cut its full-year earnings forecast. The nation's largest health insurer also raised doubts about whether it will continue to participate in a key piece of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In the absence of major economic news, investors honed in on the uneven company earnings and outlooks.

"That's why we are largely without a lot of vigor in either direction today," said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

Stocks got off to a plodding start, spending much of the morning hovering close to the levels from a day earlier, when the S&P 500 index posted its biggest gain in four weeks.

Best Buy shares dropped 2.1 percent after releasing disappointing sales and a cautious outlook for the Christmas shopping season. The stock slipped 66 cents to $30.67.

Other companies turned in more encouraging results.

Keurig Green Mountain, maker of single-serve coffee systems, and customer-management software developer Salesforce.com each rose sharply after reporting better-than-expected earnings and revenue. Keurig vaulted $7.38, or 18.2 percent, to $47.88. Salesforce.com climbed $3.29, or 4.3 percent, to $80.64.

Traders also bid up shares in J.M. Smucker, which delivered earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations. The food-products company jumped $7.90, or 7 percent, to $121.28.

Match Group made a big splash in its market debut. The owner of online dating portals Tinder, Match.com and OKCupid, climbed $2.74, or 22.8 percent, to $14.74.

In Europe, Germany's DAX gained 1 percent, while France's CAC-40 rose 0.2 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 0.8 percent. In Asia, China's main stock index rose 1.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.4 percent. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 1.1 percent, while South Korea's Kospi gained 1.3 percent.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 21 cents to $40.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 4 cents to $44.18 a barrel in London.

Wholesale gasoline rose 2 cents to $1.288 a gallon, heating oil fell 1 cent to $1.372 a gallon and natural gas fell 7 cents to $2.276 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Precious and industrial metals prices were mixed. Gold rose $9.20 to $1,077.90 an ounce, silver gained 14 cents to $14.22 an ounce and copper was essentially flat at $2.08 a pound.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.24 percent from 2.27 percent late Wednesday.

The euro rose to $1.0731 from $1.0647 while the dollar fell to 122.86 yen from 123.57 yen.

Business on 11/20/2015

Upcoming Events