adminNew York. — US stocks fluctuated, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid the most in a month, as energy shares slumped for a third day and investors considered the timing of possible interest-rate increases.
Valero Energy Corp and Tesoro Corp lost more than 3 percent to lead declines among energy companies. EBay Inc fell 2,8 percent after Piper Jaffray Cos analysts cut the stock’s rating after Apple Inc introduced a new payment service.
Apple jumped 1,4 percent after falling yesterday amid the unveiling of new products. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc dropped 5,8 percent after quarterly profit disappointed analysts.
The S&P 500 rose less than 0,1 percent to 1 989,37 at 11.46 am in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 11,72 points, or 0,1 percent, to 17 025,59. The Nasdaq 100 Index advanced 0,3 percent as technology shares gained. Trading in S&P 500 companies was in line with the 30-day average for this time of the day.
“The concern of the day is whether the Federal Reserve changes its timing of interest-rate moves to the upside,” Dan Veru, chief investment officer at Fort Lee, New Jersey-based Palisade Capital Management, said by phone.
The firm oversees more than $5 billion in assets.
“It’s pointless to try and figure out when interest rates will go higher. You just position yourself for when that day will come.”
The equities gauge slipped 0,7 percent yesterday, after hitting a record last week, as investors focused on the timing of an interest-rate increase from the Fed and technology shares slid after Apple erased a rally.
The Fed is gauging the strength of the economy as it winds down a bond-buying programme and considers raising rates.
Policy officials next meet September 16-17.
Data this week may show that claims for unemployment benefits fell, retail sales improved, and consumer confidence rose, strengthening the case for higher rates next year as the world’s largest economy continues its recovery.
“It will be an emotional change for the market when the Fed stops buying bonds in October,” said Thomas Thygesen, head of cross-asset strategy at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB in Copenhagen.
“We have been used to this support for so many years that being in a world without it is a little scary. It also intensifies the focus on rate hikes.”
Yesterday’s decline in the S&P 500 broke a string of 14 straight days without a move of 0,5 percent in either direction, the longest streak since 1995, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The last time the index fell more than 10 percent was three years ago.
The S&P 500 last month climbed above 2 000 for the first time.
The benchmark is trading at 16,6 times the projected earnings of its members, near the 16,8 multiple reached on September 5 that was the highest valuation since the end of 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge of S&P 500 options known as the VIX, climbed 0,7 percent to 13,59, heading toward a third straight day of gains. The measure lost 29 percent last month, the biggest drop in almost three years.
Six out of 10 main groups in the S&P 500 declined, with energy companies sliding 1,1 percent.
Energy stocks have dropped 4,3 percent in September, poised for the worst monthly loss since January as crude prices have tumbled. Oil markets in the US and Europe face a glut amid constrained consumption and the recovery of supplies from Libya, the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based adviser to 29 nations, said last month.
Crude futures fell 1,3 percent today after supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for the contract, climbed for the fifth time in six weeks. Brent dropped to the lowest level in almost 17 months.
EBay slipped 2,8 percent to $51,26. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster downgraded the stock to neutral from overweight, the equivalent of buy. Apple Pay, a new service that lets users shop with the tap of a finger on a phone, is likely to disrupt the mobile payments market, Munster wrote in a note today.
Comparable sales for EBay rose 5,9 percent last month, according to a ChannelAdvisor Corp blog post dated September 4. That’s the slowest growth since 2011, Topeka Capital Markets Inc analyst Victor Anthony wrote in a note today.
Krispy Kreme fell 5,8 percent to $16,59. The chain known for its hot-glazed doughnuts reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 13 cents, missing the 16 cents projected by analysts. The shares have lost 8,7 percent so far this year and touched a 14-month low in August.
RadioShack Corp lost 9,3 percent to 85 cents, after plunging 23 percent yesterday for the biggest drop in two years.
Wedbush Securities cut its price target to $0, saying it believed a bankruptcy reorganisation was imminent. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said in a report that declining consumer-electronics sales and shrinking profit margins are undercutting RadioShack’s comeback effort.
Technology shares had the largest gains among S&P 500 groups, increasing 0,4 percent.
Apple jumped 1,4 percent to $99,33.
The company wiped out a rally of as much as 4,8 percent yesterday after unveiling new products.
It announced a smartwatch, mobile-payments system, health applications and bigger-screen iPhones that all work together.
The shares have typically fallen at other events where Apple debuted new products. Apple is up 24 percent this year.
Palo Alto Networks Inc. advanced 7,8 percent to $96,27.
Sales will be between $178 million and $182 million in the first quarter of its 2015 financial year, the computer security company said in a statement.
Analysts had predicted $173,7 million for the period. — Bloomberg.
Online Reporter