Wall Street Wakes Up, Sells Off
Updated from 9:17 a.m. EST
Traders of U.S. stocks were taking profits at the open Wednesday after the market logged impressive gains during the previous session. Investors were also sizing up their prospects following
victory in Tuesday's U.S. presidential election.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was shedding 157 points at 9468, and the
S&P 500
was lower by 17 points at 989. The
Nasdaq
dropped 27 points to 1753.
Ahead of Wednesday's session, several corporate headlines were detracting from buying sentiment. Aircraft maker
Boeing
(BA) - Get Report
announced that its 787 Dreamliner program was suffering delays because it needs to replace improperly attached fasteners on the new jets.
Solar panel maker
(SPWRA)
reduced its fourth-quarter and 2009 earnings figures, saying a strengthening dollar vs. the euro would hurt its results.
Homebuilder
(KBH) - Get Report
cut its quarterly dividend 75%, citing a goal of maintaining a strong financial position.
Another day brought additional earnings statements.
(TWX)
reported a slight drop in third-quarter earnings and reduced its 2008 earnings forecasts because of additional restructuring it expects to incur.
Bond insurer
Ambac
(ABK)
reported a third-quarter loss that was substantially wider than a year ago. A bit later Wednesday, fellow insurer
MBIA
(MBI) - Get Report
is expected to report.
Shifting to economic data, Automatic Data Processing reported that the U.S. lost 157,000 jobs in October. Economists had forecast a loss of 100,000 jobs. The ADP figure for September was revised to a loss of 26,000 jobs from an initial read of 8,000. Investors also will be taking in the Institute for Supply Management's services index.
As for commodities, crude oil was losing $2.29 to $68.24 a barrel. Gold was down $4.50 at $752.80 an ounce.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were rising in price. The 10-year was up 2/32, yielding 3.72%, and the 30-year was gaining 7/32 to yield 4.18%. The dollar was rising vs. the euro but taking losses against the yen and pound.
Overseas, European exchanges, including the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt, were mostly trading lower. In
, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed on the upside.
