New York markets lower after early gains
Midday on Wall Street saw the main indexes down amid profit-taking following gains on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.4 percent to 11.092.99. The Nasdaq composite was nearly unchanged at 2,284.09, but the S&P 500 had fallen by 0.3 percent to 1,289.
The Nasdaq was helped by a 3.1 percent rise by Google, while the Dow was hurt by declines from several companies. Other news helped send the indexes down as well, as lower reported unemployment claims led to more speculation of more interest rate hikes to come. Losses were limited, though, as crude oil prices dropped after weekly inventories reports showed that US crude oil stockpiles had grown again.
Banks, insurers, and pharmaceuticals were down on the day, as was Viacom, in its first earnings report since parting ways with CBS. Viacom reported fourth-quarter profits were down 67 percent, sending its shares down 3.2 percent to $40.75. Paint maker Sherwin-Willams was also down, by 5.7 percent to $40.75.
Other losers on the day included American International Group, down 1.1 percent to $67.20; IBM, which dropped 1.3 percent to $80.30; and General Motors, dropping 1.9 percent to $20.78.
Fannie Mae, on the other hand, was up 2.5 percent to $57.33 after an internal investigation into an accounting scandal found no further problems.
Toll Brothers, the homebuilder which had seen recent losses, was up 2.6 percent on the day to $33.32 after it reported first-quarter earnings had risen 49 percent and that net income was up $163.9 million, which worked out to a gain of 98 cents per share.
Meanwhile, grocery chain Safeway was up 4.8 percent to $24.37 on a report of higher quarterly earnings than had been expected and comic book publisher Marvel Entertainment gained $1.27 to $17.38 after reporting on its fourth quarter and raising sales and earnings forecasts for this year.
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