Stocks fall as Wall Street ends a winning streak
NEW YORK - Stocks finished Tuesday trading well lower, putting out a five-day winning streak, as energy companies sank along with the price of crude oil. Murphy Oil (MUR) plunged 14.7 percent, and oil rig operator Transocean (RIG) lost 10.2 percent. Traders were also discouraged by weak trade figures from China.
The Dow Jones industrial average slid 110 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 16,964. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 22.5 points, or 1.1 percent, ending at 1,979. The Nasdaq composite did the worst of the big benchmarks, giving up 59 points, or 1.3 percent, to 4,649.
"We're overbought," said Chief Investment Officer Bill Stone of PNC Asset Management Group, noting that the S&P 500 was up about 10 percent from mid-February. "People are taking some profits off of the larger run-up from the low."
Hamburger chain Shake Shack (SHAK) plunged $5., or 11.8 percent, to $37.23 after delivering quarterly results and an outlook that disappointed investors.
Urban Outfitters (URBN) jumped $4.53, or 16 percent, to $32.69. Late Monday, the retailer reported strong earnings and improved margins during the holiday season. The Philadelphia-based company said it earned $72.9 million, or 61 cents per share, in its fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, better than analysts expected.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.40, or 3.7 percent, to $36.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped $1.98 on Monday. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell $1.19, or 3 percent, to $39.65 a barrel.
In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline fell less a penny to $1.388 a gallon, heating oil dropped 2.3 cents to $1.20 a gallon and natural gas rose 2.2 cents to $1.712 per 1,000 cubic feet.
China's exports plunged 25 percent in February from a year earlier, as weak global demand and a business shutdown during the Lunar New Year holiday combined to depress sales. Customs data Tuesday also showed imports fell 14 percent.
In European trading on Tuesday, France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE 100 each fell 0.9 percent.
In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 0.8 percent, and South Korea's Kospi lost 0.6 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.7 percent.
The euro was unchanged at $1.1013. The dollar edged down to 112.77 yen from 113.27 yen.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.83 percent from 1.91 percent late Monday.
METALS: Prices for industrial and precious metals ended broadly lower. Gold slipped $1.10 to $1,262.90 an ounce, silver fell 24 cents to $15.39 an ounce and copper lost six cents to $2.22 a pound.