Rough Start for Stocks
Updated from 8:07 a.m. EDT
Stocks in the U.S. were tumbling at the open of trading Friday as another sizable loss at
AIG
(AIG) - Get Report
and oil's continuing advance gave sellers the early advantage.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was down 129 points to 12,738, and the
S&P 500
was losing 13 points at 1385. The
Nasdaq
was worse by 21 points to 2430.
One of the early drags was AIG, a component of the Dow, which was falling 7.3%. The selloff came a day after the insurer said it lost $7.81 billion in its first quarter because of big writedowns on credit-default swaps and mortgage-related investments.
Also depressing sentiment was oil's extended climb into uncharted territory. In recent electronic New York trading, crude futures were up $1.64 to $125.33 a barrel. On Thursday, oil closed at a record, then went past $124 for the first time in the extended session.
Elsewhere in the commodities complex, gold was up $4.70 to $886.80 an ounce, and silver tacked on 13 cents to $17.
AIG wasn't the only key financial company trading in the red.
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
, also part of the Dow, fell 1.2% as investors awaited the outcome of management's meeting with analysts later in the day.
The
Financial Times
reported that CEO Vikram Pandit will discuss parting ways with as much as $400 billion in noncore assets in order to lower costs and boost profit. However, the report said, Pandit will reject the suggestion that the company should consider a breakup.
Meanwhile, markets overseas were sinking. Tokyo's Nikkei fell 2.1% overnight, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.5%. Europe's major indices weren't much better. London's FTSE was losing 1.2%, and the Paris Cac was retreating 2.5%. Frankfurt's Dax was lower by 1.3%.
Treasury prices, though, were on the upswing. The 10-year note was adding 9/32 in price to yield 3.75%, and the 30-year bond was gaining 17/32 to lower the yield to 4.51%.
The dollar was weak against most of its competitors, including declines of more than 1.1% against both the yen and the Swiss franc. The euro rose 0.3% to $1.5454.
On the data side, the March U.S. trade deficit shrank to $58.2 billion from $61.7 billion in February, in part because the stumbling greenback made domestic goods cheaper overseas. Analysts expected the deficit to be $61 billion.
This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.