Stocks fall, breaking 7-day streak, but Amazon shares briefly top $1,000

By Associated Press

May 30, 2017 4 PM PT

A seven-day winning streak for stocks came to a quiet end Tuesday as banks, especially smaller ones, dropped along with bond yields and interest rates. Energy companies sank to their lowest prices in a year.

Investors snapped up government bonds and high-yield stocks including phone companies and utilities. Technology companies continued to soar. Airlines slumped as investors worried that the government could expand a ban on laptops in passenger cabins during international flights, which could affect business travel.

Still, stocks remain close to their record highs. JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist for TD Ameritrade, said he thinks that stocks will stay at high levels until more details about the Trump administration’s tax proposals become public.

“Barring unforeseen events, it’s really going to come down to progress and details about the tax plan,” he said. “We’ve had this run-up primarily on the fact that earnings have been good.”

However, Kinahan said he thinks it’s likely that Wall Street will be disappointed with any tax cut package that does pass, since the administration’s proposals are likely to be scaled back in Congress.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.91 points, or 0.1%, to 2,412.91. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 50.81 points, or 0.2%, to 21,029.47. The Nasdaq composite slipped 7 points, or 0.1%, to 6,203.19. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks tumbled 11.05 points, or 0.8%, to 1,371.19.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.21% from 2.25%. Falling interest rates hit banks. JPMorgan Chase shares declined 1.7% to $83.90. Smaller banks fell harder; Hope Bancorp dropped 3.7% to $17.48 and First Financial Bancorp sank 2.9% to $25.05.

Oil prices recovered from an early stumble and finished only slightly lower, but energy companies continued to fall. Hess dropped 3.1% to $46.67 and Schlumberger declined 1.2% to $68.74. The S&P 500 index of energy companies reached its lowest level in a year. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 14 cents to $49.66 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 45 cents to $51.84 a barrel.

Technology companies continued to lead the way. Security software maker Symantec rose 1.5% to $30.71. Nvidia went up 2.1% to $144.87. Micron Technology climbed 3.2% to $30.71.

International airlines slumped as the government considered expanding a ban on laptops and tablets in the passenger cabins of flights into the United States. In March, the Trump administration said passengers flying from 10 cities, mostly in the Middle East, had put all devices larger than a smartphone into checked luggage. On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said that ban might be expanded to all international flights to and from the U.S.

Delta Air Lines slid 3.4% to $49.06. United Continental retreated 2.5% to $79.25. American Airlines fell 1.6% to $47.96.

Online retail giant Amazon.com traded above $1,000 a share for the first time, but it didn’t stay there. The stock peaked at $1,001.20 shortly after the market opened, but it closed at $996.70, up 92 cents. The only other S&P 500 company valued at more than $1,000 a share is travel booking site Priceline, which slipped to $1,857.45 on Tuesday. Investors value Amazon at about $476 billion and Priceline at $91 billion.

E-commerce and payment services company First Data said it will buy payment processing company CardConnect for $15 a share in cash, or about $468 million. CardConnect’s stock jumped 10.3% to $15.05. First Data shares ticked up 1.1% to $16.82.

Atwood Oceanics soared 24.3% to $10.04 after the offshore drilling contractor agreed to be bought by Ensco for $10.72 a share in stock, or $863 million. Shares of Britain-based Ensco slid 5.1% to $6.36.

Xactly jumped 16% to $15.55 after the cloud-based incentives company agreed to be taken private by Vista Equity Partners in a deal that values it at $15.65 a share, or $499 million.

The dollar fell to 110.78 yen from 111.19 yen. The euro rose to $1.1188 from $1.1176.

Wholesale gasoline remained at $1.64 a gallon. Heating oil fell 1 cent to $1.55 a gallon. Natural gas slid 17 cents, or 5%, to $3.15 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold fell $5.70 to $1,265.70 an ounce. Silver rose 10 cents to $17.43 an ounce. Copper stayed at $2.56 a pound.

The FTSE 100 index in Britain fell 0.3%. The French CAC 40 sank 0.6%. Germany’s DAX slipped 0.2%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 finished nearly flat. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.4%. Markets in Hong Kong were closed for a holiday.

UPDATES:

4 p.m.: This article was updated with closing prices, context and analyst comment.

7:45 a.m.: This article was updated with market prices and context.

This article was originally published at 7 a.m.