Stocks ended lower after Federal Reserve meeting minutes raised worries the central bank might scale back its bond buying program. Also, housing starts fell to a 890,000 rate, below expectations. PPI rose 0.2% in January after a 0.3% decline the month before. In the commodities market, oil prices sank 2% on rumors that a large player was being forced to sell crude futures. Gold fell 1.6% pressured by the FOMC minutes and strength in the dollar. Caterpillar slid 2.5% as the co. reported global sales fell in the first quarter. Apple fell 2.4% after supplier Foxconn Technology Group froze hiring at its biggest factory in Shenzhen. H-P fell 1.1% after Dell painted a more challenging picture of the PC market, with analysts noting that Dell’s aggressive pricing during the recently ended quarter may have hurt H-P’s own efforts to maintain share. BlackBerry lost 4.5% as analysts were questioning early sales of the new Z10 smartphone in the U.K. and Canadian markets. Garmin slid 9.4% after the co. reported a 22% drop in fourth-quarter earnings and projected results for the full fiscal year that were below expectations.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Dropped sharply after Fed minutes
Stocks ended lower after Federal Reserve meeting minutes raised worries the central bank might scale back its bond buying program. Also, housing starts fell to a 890,000 rate, below expectations. PPI rose 0.2% in January after a 0.3% decline the month before. In the commodities market, oil prices sank 2% on rumors that a large player was being forced to sell crude futures. Gold fell 1.6% pressured by the FOMC minutes and strength in the dollar. Caterpillar slid 2.5% as the co. reported global sales fell in the first quarter. Apple fell 2.4% after supplier Foxconn Technology Group froze hiring at its biggest factory in Shenzhen. H-P fell 1.1% after Dell painted a more challenging picture of the PC market, with analysts noting that Dell’s aggressive pricing during the recently ended quarter may have hurt H-P’s own efforts to maintain share. BlackBerry lost 4.5% as analysts were questioning early sales of the new Z10 smartphone in the U.K. and Canadian markets. Garmin slid 9.4% after the co. reported a 22% drop in fourth-quarter earnings and projected results for the full fiscal year that were below expectations.
