Bad slide for FTSE
Wall Street stumbled through a lopsided session today, closing mixed as profit warnings and news from blue chip names Alcoa and Boeing dragged down the Dow Jones industrial average but largely spared technology stocks.
A pullback was to be expected after the Dow and the Standard & Poor's 500 index finished at new highs yesterday amid enthusiasm over comments from Federal Reserve policymakers about interest rates, but corporate news appeared to hasten today's slide.
Declines by Dow components Boeing and Alcoa, among others, hurt the 30-stock index.
Meanwhile, International Paper and Chevron moved lower on profit news. With investors thumbing through fresh quarterly results and company news, the latest economic readings did little to dislodge the dichotomy between blue chips and tech stocks.
A report showed inventories among US wholesalers ticked up in August, while a trade group for estate agents warned the drop in sales of existing homes this year will be steeper than had been expected.
The Dow fell 85.84, or 0.61%, to 14,078.69 after rising 120 points yesterday. Broader stock indicators were mixed.
The S&P 500 fell 2.68, or 0.17%, to 1,562.47, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 7.70, or 0.27%, to 2,811.61.
