US stocks slip as drugmakers pull health care companies down

Among small-company stocks, mortgage lending service company LendingTree added $6.85, or 7.3 per cent, to $100.05 and coal miner Cloud Peak Energy rose 80 cents, or 16.1 per cent, to $5.80.

THE QUOTE: “Some of the proposals that Trump has promoted, specifically deregulation and also some of his trade proposals, are better for small companies than potentially they are for large ones,” said Katie Nixon, chief investment officer for Northern Trust.

QUEASY FEELING: Losses for drug companies weighed down health care stocks. Botox maker Allergan retreated $6.53, or 3.3 per cent, to $193.45 and biotech giant Amgen fell $1.80, or 1.2 per cent, to $145.57. Hepatitis C drugmaker Gilead Sciences shed 97 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $74.61.

HOME GOODS GO BAD: Companies that sell common household products are also moving lower. Procter & Gamble gave up 87 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $82.20 and drugstore operator Walgreens Boots Alliance slumped 65 cents to $83.33.

RETAIL: Teen clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch fell $2.44, or 14.4 per cent, to $14.49 after it reported weak sales and a smaller profit than analysts had expected. Gap’s said fewer people visited its stores heading into the holiday season. Its stock gave up $5.03, or 16.4 per cent, to $25.68. Sporting goods Hibbett Sports retailer cut its annual forecasts after a weak third-quarter report. It dropped $6.25, or 13.8 per cent, to $39.05.

Shoppers are not buying as many clothes and moving toward discount chains. That trend continued as discount retailer Ross Stores rose $2.50, or 3.8 per cent, to $68.03 after it posted a better-than-expected profit and sales.

DOLLAR SEEING GREEN: The dollar continued to climb. It’s around annual highs against the euro and six-month highs against the yen. The dollar rose to 110.63 yen from 109.89 yen. The euro fell to $1.0599 from $1.0626.

The dollar hasn’t been this strong since early 2003. Nixon said that’s affecting big multinational companies because it can hurt their sales outside the U.S., but it’s less of a problem for smaller, domestically-oriented companies.

BONDS: Investors continued to sell U.S. government bonds at a rapid clip, and bond prices wobbled and turned lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.34 per cent from 2.30 per cent. Bond prices have fallen hard since the election and yields are now at their highest in a year.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 27 cents to close at $45.69 a barrel in New York, while Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, added 37 cents to $46.86 a barrel in London. Energy companies made the biggest gains on the market. Chevron rose $1.31, or 1.2 per cent, to $109.43 and ConocoPhillips jumped $1.25, or 2.9 per cent, to $44.86.

OUT IN FORCE: Customer management software maker Salesforce.com jumped after a solid quarterly report and strong guidance. Its stock picked up $2.44, or 3.2 per cent, to $77.63.

A MARVEL: Chipmaker Marvell Technology disclosed much stronger sales than analysts expected and gave a surprising forecast for the current quarter. Its stock gained $1.36, or 10.2 per cent, to $14.72.

METALS: Gold fell $8.20 to $1,208.70 an ounce. Silver lost 15 cents to $16.62 an ounce. Copper dipped 2 cents to $2.47 a pound.

OTHER ENERGY TRADING: Wholesale gasoline stayed at $1.34 a gallon. Heating oil picked up 1 cent to $1.46 a gallon. Natural gas climbed 14 cents, or 5.2 per cent, to $2.84 per 1,000 cubic feet.

OVERSEAS: France’s CAC 40 fell 0.5 per cent and the FTSE 100 in Britain dipped 0.3 per cent. The German DAX lost 0.2 per cent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.6 per cent as the yen hit a six-month low, helping shares of the country’s big exporters. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.3 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.4 per cent.

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AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/marley-jay

Marley Jay, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

US stocks slip as drugmakers pull health care companies down

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