Stocks move lower in quiet trading
NEW YORK - Stocks were slightly lower in early trading Friday, as investors booked some of the profits made this week. Technology stocks were trading heavily, particularly Facebook, Yahoo and Twitter.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 62 points, or 0.3 percent, to 18,330 as of 11:56 a.m. ET. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell seven points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,170 and the Nasdaq composite fell 15 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,325.
Facebook shares fell $1.98, or 1.5 percent, to $128.13 after The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook was overstating the length of how long its users were watching its video ads, raising concerns that a portion of Facebook’s ad revenue may be at risk.
Yahoo fell 86 cents, or 2 percent, to $43.27 after the company admitted the data of 500 million users was stolen by a foreign agent, much more than the company previously acknowledged. While Yahoo has agreed to sell most of its assets to Verizon, there were concerns that this development may cause Verizon to go back to the negotiation table.
Twitter soared $3.52, or 19 percent, to $22.13 after CNBC reported that the company is in deal talks with Salesforce and Google’s parent company Alphabet for a possible sale. Alphabet and Salesforce were both down in early trading.
Stocks posted solid gains this week, with the S&P 500 up 1.5 percent, as investors breathed a sigh of relief after the Federal Reserve decided to keep rates at their current low levels yet again. The next time the Fed could raise rates is next month, but the general impression among investors is the central bank will not raise rates until December, long after the general election.
“As much as market fundamentals matter, the Fed and its decisions continue to dominate markets,” said Kristina Hooper, head of U.S. investment strategies at Allianz Global Investors.
U.S. benchmark crude oil futures fell 18 cents to $45.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 8 cents to $48.29 a barrel.
The yield on the U.S. Treasury 10-year note was little changed at 1.63 percent. The euro rose to $1.1216 from $1.204 and the dollar edged up to 100.93 yen from 100.89 yen.