U.S. Stocks Mixed; Amazon.com's Buyback Plan Lifts Tech
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks were mixed Friday morning as worries about the U.S. economy lingered and a buyback plan by online retailer Amazon.com Inc. helped to lift the technology sector.
"With the economy either in recession or very close to being in one, we favor buying bonds on sell-offs," said Tom DiGaloma, head of Treasury trading at Jefferies & Co.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 21.2 points at 12,225.8 in early trade, off opening lows that had the blue-chip index sliding more than 70 points.
Of the Dow's 30 components, 21 were falling, with American Express Co. among the larger decliners, its stock off 1.9%.
Stocks advancing on the blue-chip index included technology shares, with Microsoft Corp. up 2.8% and Hewlett-Packard Co. up 2.6%.
Broader indexes pulled higher. The S&P 500 gained 1.86 points to 1,338.77 in early action. The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite climbed 18.11 points to 2,311.14, lifted in part by plans by Amazon.com to buy back as much as $1 billion worth of common stock.
Amazon shares advanced 4.6%.
The Commerce Department reported inventories at U.S. wholesalers climbed 1.1% in December, the largest gain since August 2006. .
Friday was also set to bring more talk from Federal Reserve officials, on the heels of a speech in Hawaii late Thursday by Janet Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Yellen, who isn't a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, said the U.S. would probably avoid a recession but experience lackluster economic growth in coming months.
Since the middle of September, the Fed has cut its target lending rate to 3% from 5.25%, as signs of economic trouble heightened. The Fed's moves included a large emergency cut of three-quarters of a percentage point in late January.
The dollar was little moved against rivals, and yields on 10-year Treasury notes fell to 3.688%.
In commodities trading, oil futures added $1.41 to trade at $89.52 a barrel, and gold futures rose $9.7 to stand at $919.7 an ounce.
Among Dow stocks, Coca-Cola Co. won an upgrade to outperform from peer perform at Bear Stearns, with the broker citing the good results at PepsiCo and other global consumer companies. Coca-Cola's shares made early gains.
Fellow blue chip McDonald's also moved higher, gaining in the wake of January sales results.
Shares of MBIA Inc. were off 0.3% in early morning action, after the world's largest bond insurer -- which is trying to hang onto its AAA rating -- priced $1 billion in common shares to raise capital. .
McAfee rose 8.5% after the software maker's 63% quarterly profit drop proved less steep than anticipated.
Alcatel-Lucent posted higher fourth-quarter revenue than forecast, though the telecom-equipment maker warned of a first-quarter operating loss and halted its dividend. Shares opened lower.
An explosion and a fire at an Imperial Sugar refinery has left dozens of people injured, with six workers still missing, according to news reports.
Overseas, the Nikkei 225 ended 1.4% lower, hurt by disappointing machinery orders data. But European stocks retained gains. .
U.S. stocks had climbed Thursday as bargain hunters returned to the market, hit by three days of losses that left the Nasdaq in bear-market territory.
By Kate Gibson