Following a choppy session on Wall St, US stocks have closed lower dragged down by declines in financial stocks. Also weighing on Wall St was a report showing contraction in the services sector of the economy which overshadowed a drop in weekly jobless claims and optimism about Bank of America’s plan to repay $45 billion in bailout funds owed to the government.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 87 points to 10,366. The S&P500 Index is down 9 to 1,100 while the NASDAQ lost 12 points to 2,173.
In economic news: The number of new claims for unemployment benefits fell to 457,000 last week compared to 466,000 the week before. The key monthly jobs report is due on Friday.
And in other news the Institute for Supply Management’s read on the services sector of the US economy dropped to a read of 48.7 in November from 50.6 in October. Economists expected a rise to 51.5.
And overall retail sales rose just 0.5% in November, compared to forecasts of a 2.1% rise.
In company news: Shares in cable services company Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) rose 6.49 per cent to $15.91. Comcast has acquired a majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric creating a media giant worth around $37.25 billion. The joint venture of NBC businesses and Comcast's cable networks will leave Comcast with a 51% interest in the venture and General Electric with a 49% holding.
Shares in Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) gained 0.7 per cent to $15.76. The company announced that it will pay back $45 billion in bailout funds owed to the government. The company is looking for a new CEO with current Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis expected to retire by the end of the year.
Shares in apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Company (NYSE:ANF) fell 9.25 per cent to $36.21. Reporting sales results for November the retailer says same stores sales for the month dropped 17% compared to a year ago, a bigger drop than the 9.3% forecast. Sales for November fell 8% to $245.7 million.
And shares in retailer Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) declined 3.01 per cent to $15.81. Also reporting its sales results for November the company posted a 6.1% decline in same store sales, worse than expected. According to Reuters analysts have warned retailers not to expect a big rush in December to save the holiday season.
In the NASDAQ Top 100: Comcast was the best performer on the Nasdaq overnight, its price as mentioned before, followed by KLA Tencor and First Solar. The worst performer was Apollo Group shares down 3.1% to $54.65, while Flextronics and Costco Wholesale also closed lower.
