Stocks flat as Alcoa Exxon rise; Nasdaq falls
By Ellis Mnyandu
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and the S%26amp;P 500 ended little changed on Monday as soaring commodity prices
lifted Alcoa and Exxon Mobil, offsetting fears of more fallout from the housing slump, while the Nasdaq fell after brokers cut their price targets on Apple.
The surge in the prices of gold, oil, platinum and silver prompted investors to buy the shares of natural resources companies, including Alcoa Inc (AA.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which ended up 3.2 percent at $38.32, and Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), up nearly 1 percent at $87.75.
But financial shares took a beating after Thornburg Mortgage Inc %26lt;TMA.N, a high-profile mortgage lender, said it does not have enough cash to meet its creditors’ demands, driving its stock down 51.5 percent to $4.32 on concerns it might file for bankruptcy. The lender’s woes troubled investors since it specializes in jumbo mortgages considered among the less risky home loans.
Souring profit expectations also hurt bank shares, pulling Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) down 2.6 percent and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) down 1.4 percent. An Oppenheimer and Co. analyst cut earnings-per-share estimates on three U.S. brokers.
Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) dropped 2.6 percent to $121.73, weighing on the Nasdaq, after RBC Capital Markets and Banc of America Securities cut their price targets on the stock of the iPhone and iPod maker.
“There’s not a single stitch of good news out there,” said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI ended down 7.49 points, or 0.06 percent, at 12,258.90. The Standard %26amp; Poor’s 500 Index .SPX rose 0.71 of a point, or 0.05 percent, to close at 1,331.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC slipped 12.88 points, or 0.57 percent, to finish at 2,258.60. Continued…
Tags: citigroup, dow jones industrial, dow jones industrial average, managing director, price target, reuters
