Small gains on Wall St as rate hike is eyed – New York Report
Gains in Walt Disney and Amazon.com yesterday were offset by a drop in Apple as investors hunkered down for a potential interest rate hike next month.
Still, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.16 per cent to finish the day at 17,758.21 points. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.24 percent to 5,083.24.
Apple’s shares fell 3.15 per cent after Credit Suisse said the iPhone maker had cut component orders by as much as 10 per cent, indicating weakening demand for its newest smartphones. The stock was the biggest drag on the three major indexes. After falling in the four previous sessions, the S&P 500 flittered between losses and gains for much of the session before finishing 0.15 per cent higher at 2,081.72 points.
“We could face a little more of this kind of trading as we see people position around the idea of a rate increase,” said Kurt Brunner, a portfolio manager at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia. “Over next couple weeks, it could be a little sloppy before we head into Thanksgiving.”
Seven of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher yesterday, with the consumer discretionary sector’s 0.82 per cent advance leading the gainers, helped by an 0.86 per cent increase in Walt Disney and a 0.64 per cent rise in Amazon.com .
Apple suppliers Skyworks, Avago, Cirrus Logic and Qorvo were down between 3.9 per cent and 10 per cent.
Gap fell 1.44 per cent after its comparable sales fell more than expected in October.
House builder DR Horton surged 8.27 per cent after its quarterly profit jumped 44 per cent.