New York markets lower on interest rate worries

Wall Street was lower at midday on Friday and looked to be on track to end the week in the red as investors worried about what the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee will do about interest rates when they meet next week. Also affecting market activity were reports that both the Index of Leading Economic Indicators and durable goods orders were off in May, implying that economic growth in the US is slowing.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had lost 0.2 percent to 10,995.16 by mid-session, a loss of 0.2 percent for the week. The Dow, however, is still up 2.6 percent for the year so far. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.1 percent to 2,120.45 at midday, down 0.4 percent on the week. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was essentially flat, down just 0.95 points to 1,244.65, which brought it to a loss of 0.6 percent for the week.

The biggest gains for the week were in the oil sector, where Kerr-McGee added 33.5 percent to $68.52 and Western Gas Resources gained 41.6 percent to $59.71 on the news that Anadarko Petroleum will purchase both companies. The announcement sent Anadarko down 6.7 percent to $44.99.

General Motors was up 4.4 percent on the week to $26.73 after it was learned that Delphi, GM’s largest parts supplier, has reached a settlement with one of its unions on employee buyouts.

In the banking sector, Morgan Stanley gained 4.1 percent to $59.35 this week after it said profits doubled in the second quarter.

NYSE Group added 8.8 percent to $59.90 after Euronext characterized a modified offer from Deutsche Borse as basically the same as its previous bid and continued to recommend NYSE’s offer for the European stock exchange operator.

Jabil Circuit lost 6 percent over the week to $24.68, for a total decline of over 40 percent since the first of April, after announcing that it had been subpoenaed over its practices in granting stock options.

Univision dropped 6.5 percent to $33.43 after two private equity groups dropped out of one of two consortia bidding for the Spanish language broadcaster.

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