US stocks opened slightly lower on Thursday, with the S&P 500 retreating from a record high as investors digested the latest batch of corporate earnings.
Among the major companies that reported this morning, Citigroup Inc fell 2.7 percent to $53.46 after its results while Goldman Sachs edged slightly down.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 40.75 points, or 0.25 percent, at 16,441.19. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 3.25 points, or 0.18 percent, at 1,845.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 4.00 points, or 0.09 percent, at 4,210.88.
In Europe, equities steadied just below a 5-1/2-year high by midday trading with mining shares boosted by output data and broker comments offsetting losses in retail and technology stocks.
The STOXX Europe 600 basic resources index rose 2.4 percent to the top of the sectoral gainers’ list. A sharp rise in output helped Rio Tinto rise 3.4 percent and research notes helped BHP Billiton and Polymetal advance 3.8 percent and 5.8 percent.
A Citigroup note said it changed its 12-month sector stance to «bullish» from «neutral» to reflect better fundamentals, naming BHP and Rio among its key picks. Polymetal was helped by an upgrade from UBS to «buy» from «neutral».
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.05 percent at 1,339.10 points after climbing 1 percent to a 5-1/2-year high yesterday on encouraging US data and strong results from companies such as Bank of America.
Fundamental and technical analysts remained positive on the market’s outlook, saying an improving economic outlook and encouraging earnings would continue to support the market.
Charts also suggested that recent price action had been positive for the market and that the euro zone’s blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index was poised to rise again in the near-term. The index was down 0.3 percent at 3,159.45 points after hitting a new five-year high earlier in the session.
However, gains in mining shares were eclipsed by losses in some other sectors, with the retail index falling 0.9 percent on disappointing company updates. Ahold fell 3.1 percent on a steeper-than-expected fall in fourth-quarter sales and Dixons, Europe’s No. 2 electricals retailer, dropped 5 percent after cautioning on growth.
Telecom shares fell 0.7 percent, with TeliaSonera dropping 1.3 percent after saying its fourth-quarter profit will be weighed down by one-off items totalling 2.5 billion Swedish crowns ($386 million).
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei average edged down erasing earlier gains on profit-taking as investors wanted to see more US economic data before chasing the market higher.
The Nikkei ended 0.4 percent lower at 15,747.20, after rising as high as 15,941.08 in earlier trade.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald