- Title: USA: Wall Street slips on euro-zone debt worries
- Date: 21st May 2011
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 20, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF BARNES AND NOBLE OFFICES / SIGN VARIOUS INTERIORS OF BARNES AND NOBLE BOOKSTORE SHOP
- Embargoed: 5th June 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa, Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Finance
- Reuters ID: LVA5PKD6T6MLRNPTLEEDE6LI98DJ
- Story Text: U.S. stocks fell on Friday (May 20) on euro-zone debt worries that could spill over into next week's trading with a bearish note, while retailers lost ground after a weak profit outlook from Gap.
The S&P 500 remains hemmed in between technical support at 1,330 and resistance at 1,340, suggesting a lack of direction and keeping the market vulnerable to events such as the uncertain outcome of the euro zone's debt problems.
Shares of large multinationals, which tend to rely heavily on overseas sales, fell in sync with the euro's slide against the dollar. Shares of manufacturer 3M dropped 1.2 percent to $93.56 (USD) and weighed on the Dow.
The euro lost nearly 1 percent over disagreements on how to handle debt problems in Greece and ahead of a Spanish regional election.
Gap Inc fell 17.5 percent to $19.22 after slashing its full-year profit outlook late Thursday, saying higher price tags will not be enough to offset rising cotton costs. The S&P Retail index fell 1.4 percent.
In the options market, the predominant activity favored more bearish bets than have been seen over the past month.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 93.28 points, or 0.74 percent, to end at 12,512.04. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 10.33 points, or 0.77 percent, at 1,333.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 19.99 points, or 0.71 percent, to close at 2,803.32.
For the week, the Dow was down 0.7 percent, the S&P 500 was down 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq was down 0.9 percent.
Ahead of May options expiration at Friday's close, traders had exchanged about 669,000 contracts on the S&P 500 Index as puts outpaced calls by a factor of 2.10:1, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert. The ratio's 22-day moving average is 1.67. Trade Alert data shows.
Oil prices jumped but the S&P energy sector index still fell 0.3 percent for the day. Exxon Mobil Corp declined 0.9 percent to $81.57 and Chevron Corp lost 1.3 percent to $102.57, both dragging on the Dow.
In the industrial sector, Caterpillar Inc shed 0.9 percent to $104.33, while the S&P Cap Goods sector index lost 1.1 percent.
On the upside, Barnes & Noble Inc shares jumped 29.9 percent to $18.33 after John Malone's Liberty Media Corp proposed buying the company for $1.02 billion. The largest U.S. bookstore chain put itself up for sale nine months ago.
About 6.71 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, compared with the average of about 8.4 billion last year.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones by almost 2 to 1 on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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