U.S. Stocks Open Nearly Unchanged
August 18 2017 - 10:22AM
Dow Jones News
By Justin Yang and Corrie Driebusch
-- Global stocks down following Spain attacks
-- Haven assets advance
U.S. stocks opened mostly flat Friday, a day after the Dow Jones
Industrial Average posted its biggest decline in three months.
No big economic data and few corporate earnings reports
contributed to quiet trading Friday morning. That runs counter to
Thursday, when disappointing earnings, a terror attack in Barcelona
and unfounded rumors about the resignation of a key adviser in the
White House led to a steep stock selloff.
"There was a lot of noise yesterday," said Kenny Polcari,
director at brokerage O'Neil Securities. "A lot of that drama isn't
going to price stocks in the long term, but it does cause
short-term movement."
He added that he suspects stock-market moves to remain muted on
Friday unless "there's any more controversy" coming out of the
White House.
The Dow industrials and the S&P 500 fell 0.1% in early
trading, while the Nasdaq Composite lost less than 0.1%.
In corporate news, retailer Ross Stores' shares rose 10% after
beating sales expectations in its earnings. Shoe retailer Foot
Locker Inc. tumbled 25% after its earnings early Friday failed to
meet analyst expectations on profit and sales.
Retailers in the U.S. have been releasing mixed results on
earnings throughout the week.
Agricultural company Deere & Co. shares were down 7.4% after
its sales figures fell short of expectations.
European markets were broadly lower after an assault in
Barcelona and a subsequent attack in the Spanish coastal town of
Cambrils left at least 14 people dead. The Stoxx Europe 600 slid
0.8% Friday afternoon. Spain's benchmark IBEX 35 was one of
Europe's biggest decliners, down 0.9%.
Shares of European travel companies suffered some of the largest
losses of the day. International Consolidated Airlines Group SA --
one of the biggest decliners in the U. K. -- fell 1.6%. Airline
shares in Europe tend to endure a short-lived selloff in the wake
of terror attacks as investors assess the potential for a hit to
tourism.
Simmering geopolitical tensions and the Trump administration's
strained relationship with business leaders saw investors shift to
haven assets, boosting gold by 0.9%. The U.S. 10-year Treasury
yield slid to 2.176% Friday from 2.197% Thursday, according to data
from Tradeweb. Yields move inversely to prices.
The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket
of currencies, was down 0.4%.
In Asia, markets were lower Friday with financial shares among
the region's biggest decliners.
The Nikkei Stock Average was down 1.2%, and has suffered its
largest weekly decline since mid-May. There was added pressure from
the advance of the yen against the dollar, last up 0.5%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 1.1%, while Australia's
S&P/ASX 200 narrowed its loss to 0.6%. Korea's Kospi was off
0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index was flat.
Ese Erheriene, Kosaku Narioka and Kenan Machado contributed to
this article.
Write to Corrie Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 18, 2017 10:07 ET (14:07 GMT)
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