Investors Await Earnings Reports
Stock investors kept mostly to the sidelines Monday, awaiting the first big rush of first-quarter earnings reports.
Trading volume slowed to the lowest level this year and major market indexes were mixed.
In commodities trading, crude oil prices -- which fell every day last week -- were headed lower again Monday but rebounded late in the session.
Near-term crude futures in New York ended with a gain of 39 cents at $53.71 a barrel.
Falling oil prices helped the equity market to rally last week, but the buying dried up Monday, traders said.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 12.78 points, or 0.1%, to 10,448.56. The blue-chip index, which gained 0.6% last week, is down 3.1% this year.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index was virtually flat, adding 0.01 point to 1,181.12, while the technology-dominated Nasdaq composite eased 7.23 points, or 0.4%, to 1,992.12.
Falling stocks outnumbered winners by 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange and by about 2 to 1 on Nasdaq.
Many investors are waiting for first-quarter earnings reports to provide a clearer picture of the economy’s strength and how companies are coping with record oil prices.
About 31 companies in the S&P; 500 are expected to report quarterly results this week, including Apple Computer, General Electric and Citigroup.
First-quarter earnings are “the first signal of the year to see how the economy is,” said Paul McManus, who helps manage $9 billion at Independence Investments in Boston.
Oil prices initially fell Monday as traders welcomed reports that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was discussing another production increase in May to meet global energy demands.
But some analysts are concerned that U.S. gasoline inventories won’t be sufficient to meet summer driving demand. Upward pressure on gasoline futures prices Monday helped lift oil as well, traders said.
In other commodities action, copper futures prices hit a 16-year high in New York after reaching records in London and Shanghai amid speculation that consumption by builders, the biggest users of the metal, would increase. Near-term copper futures in New York rose 1.85 cents to $1.542 a pound.
In the bond market, Treasury yields dipped, which traders said in part reflected buying by investors who were selling corporate bonds on worries about companies’ creditworthiness.
On Friday, Ford Motor warned that earnings this year would be lower than expected, boosting concerns about Ford’s debt levels.
“There’s a huge camp out there that believes the economy is slowing down, and the Ford thing urges them on,” said one trader at a U.S. bond dealer.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield fell to 4.43% from 4.47% on Friday.
Among the day’s highlights:
* Ford shares fell 59 cents to a 52-week low of $10.44 after the company’s profit warning. Rival General Motors lost 25 cents to $29.25.
* Many other industrial stocks slid, including Navistar, down 57 cents to $34.90; Rockwell Automation, down $1.36 to $56.24; and Eaton, down 85 cents to $63.23.
* Major aerospace stocks attracted buyers. Boeing rose 80 cents to a 52-week high of $59.40 after Korean Air said it would order 10 of Boeing’s new 787 jets. Northrop Grumman added 37 cents to $56.25 and Lockheed Martin was up 93 cents to $62.25.
* Utility stocks were strong, driving the Dow utility index up 4.24 points, or 1.2%, to 366.25, the highest close since 2001. Utilities often are viewed as haven stocks in uncertain markets.
TXU jumped $1.75 to $85.22, Exelon rose 97 cents to $46.37 and Edison International, parent of Southern California Edison, was up 46 cents to $36.11.
* Procter & Gamble added 84 cents to $55.34. The consumer products giant raised its quarterly dividend 12% to 28 cents a share.
