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Stocks Wavering Between Gains and Losses in Early Trading

By on October 4, 2016

FILE - This July 15, 2013, file photo, shows the New York Stock Exchange. U.S. stocks are solidly higher early Monday, June 6, 2016, as energy companies rise along with the price of oil. Fertilizer companies are also gaining ground, but retailers are slumping. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

This July 15, 2013, file photo, shows the New York Stock Exchange. U.S. stocks are solidly higher early Monday, June 6, 2016, as energy companies rise along with the price of oil.  (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

NEW YORK — Stocks are drifting between gains and losses in early trading Tuesday. Nine of the 11 sectors of the Standard and Poor’s 500 index are lower. Utilities and real estate stocks are down the most.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average was up 2 points at 18,257 as of 10:37 a.m. Eastern time. The S&P 500 index was down a fraction at 2,160. The Nasdaq composite rose 13 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,314.

PIG OUT: Darden Restaurants jumped $1.85, or 2.6 percent, to $63.21 after posting strong first-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations. The owner of Olive Garden and other restaurant chains also raised its annual projections and said it would buy back more of its stock.

BRITAIN JUMPS: Britain’s FTSE 100 soared 1.9 percent, just shy of its all-time high of 7,122, as the pound continues to sink after the country’s prime minister gave a clear timetable on Monday for exiting the European Union. The pound is now at a 31-year low of $1.2750. A weaker pound makes the products and services of FTSE-listed multinationals cheaper abroad, boosting earnings.

ELSEWHERE IN EUROPE: Germany’s DAX was 1.1 percent higher while the CAC-40 in France rose 1.4 percent.

BANK BOOMERANG: The U.S.-listed shares of Deutsche Bank rose 27 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $11.84. Germany’s biggest bank has been under pressure since it revealed the U.S. Justice Department had proposed at $14 billion payment to settle an investigation into the bank’s dealings in risky mortgage bonds. Its shares have been rising recently on a news report Friday that a lower fine was in the offing.

ASIA’S DAY: Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.8 percent to close as the weaker yen boosted shares of the country’s big exporters. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.6 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 0.5 percent.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 17 cents to $48.65 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, was little changed at $50.93 a barrel in London.

BONDS AND CURRENCIES: U.S. government bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.65 percent. The euro slipped to $1.1144 from $1.1215 and the dollar rose to 102.76 yen from 101.57 yen.

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