Stocks end mixed; travel companies’ shares sink after Brussels attacks
U.S. stock indexes closed mostly lower Tuesday, pulled down by airlines, cruise companies and travel booking sites, whose shares sank after the deadly attacks in Belgium.
News of the attacks pulled the broader market lower for much of the morning. An early afternoon rally erased some of the losses, but the rebound didn’t hold.
Oil drilling companies also slumped following a downbeat forecast on drilling. Healthcare and technology stocks gained ground.
The last-minute slide snapped a four-day winning streak for the market. Trading was relatively light, signaling that traders were not rattled by the potential market implications of the attack.
“This is the new investing normal now,” said Chris Gaffney, president of EverBank World Markets. “You’re going to have these big tragic events, so I don’t think investors are really too concerned with it long-term.”
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 41.30 points, or 0.2%, to 17,582.57. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 1.80 points, or 0.1%, to 2,049.80. The Nasdaq composite climbed 12.79 points, or 0.3%, to 4,821.66.
The three main U.S. stock indexes headed lower early Tuesday as traders digested the news that bombs had struck the Brussels airport and one of the city’s metro stations. Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest level. Airports across Europe tightened security. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The major European stock markets declined early on, but they ultimately closed higher.
Germany’s DAX rose 0.4%, and the CAC-40 in France edged up 0.1%. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.1%. Belgium’s BEL 20 index rose 0.2%.
“Investors and traders go in and start to bottom-fish on sectors that have sold off,” said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. “It flies in the face of the headlines and the human cost of these terrorist attacks, but the stock markets tend to turn around.”
In the U.S., travel-related companies slumped and never quite recovered.
Royal Caribbean Cruises sank 2.9% to $75.99, and Carnival fell 2.1% to $48.75.
American Airlines Group went down 1.6% to $42.76. Delta Air Lines slipped 1.5% to $49.39.
Travel website operators Priceline Group and Expedia also fell: Priceline slid 2.3% to $1,319.41, while Expedia declined 1.8% to $108.92.
“The only sector that appears to be truly suffering, naturally, is anything having to do with travel,” said J.J. Kinahan, TD Ameritrade’s chief strategist.
Transocean also slumped Tuesday. The oil drilling company shed 5% to close at $10 after management said they don’t expect drilling to increase any time soon. The outlook weighed on other drillers. Ensco fell 2.8% to $11.01. Helmerich & Payne slid 1.8% to $59.86.
Other stocks fared better.
Staples climbed 7.6% to lead all gainers in the S&P 500 index. The office supply chain recovered some of its losses from a day earlier, when a court battle over the company’s proposed merger with Office Depot began. The stock closed at $10.30.
Markets in Asia were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.9%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed early gains, sliding 0.1%. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.4%.
Australia’s S&P ASX 200 edged up 0.1%.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude slipped 7 cents to close at $41.45 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oils, rose 25 cents to $41.79 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline rose 4 cents, or 2.6%, to close at $1.50 a gallon. Heating oil rose a penny to close at $1.25 a gallon. Natural gas rose 4 cents, or 1.9%, to $1.86 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Among metals, gold rose $4.40, or 0.4%, to $1,248.60 an ounce. Silver rose 4 cents, or 0.2%, to $15.89 an ounce. Copper was little changed at $2.29 a pound.
U.S. government bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.94% from 1.92% late Monday. The euro fell to $1.1216 from $1.1251, and the dollar rose to 112.33 yen from 111.86.
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