U.S. Stocks Pause After Rally
DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC. 9:48 AM ET 10/22/14
By Saumya Vaishampayan And Chris Dieterich
U.S. stock opened little changed Wednesday, pausing after a three-day rally that carried the Dow back into positive territory for the year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 11 points, or 0.1%, to 16602 in early trading. The S&P 500 slid one point, or 0.1%, to 1940 and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell seven points, or 0.1%, to 4413.
Muted trading followed a stocks surge on Tuesday. The S&P 500 jumped 2% for its biggest percentage gain in over a year. The Nasdaq Composite's 2.4% rally was its biggest one-day advance since January 2013.
Stocks have whipsawed in the past month as investors grappled with the threat of deflation in Europe, falling crude-oil prices and worries about potential changes to Federal Reserve policies. The Dow fell 6.7% from its all-time high on Sept. 19, but has recouped much of the decline, ending Tuesday off 3.85% from its 2014 record.
Peter Kenny, chief market strategist at Clearpool Group, said improving economic data and earnings, including third-quarter results at Yahoo Inc. and Halliburton Co., should lift stocks in the long run.
"Our data has been extremely consistent and sustainable in terms of its rate of improvement," he said.
On Wednesday, stocks were little changed after data showed U.S. consumer prices rose 0.1% in September from a month earlier, the Labor Department said. The result was in line with expectations.
European shares rose, with the Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.4%. On Tuesday, European shares notched their second-largest one-day gain of 2014 after reports that the European Central Bank was considering purchases of corporate bonds if more aggressive stimulus measures are needed.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei surged 2.6% after data showed Japanese exports rose 6.9% in September from a year ago, boosted in part by exports of parts for the new iPhones.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note inched higher to 2.238% from 2.206% on Tuesday. Yields fall as prices rise.
In commodity markets, crude-oil futures rose 0.4% to $82.84 a barrel. Gold futures shed 0.5% to $1,245.80 a troy ounce.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-22-140948ET
Copyright (c) 2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
"My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am."
—Author Unknown
AI
