US STOCKSDow SP flat as Alcoa Exxon rise; Nasdaq falls
(Recasts with Nasdaq’s decline, adds Apple, Qualcomm and
Google, plus Barnes %26amp; Noble shares’ fall after the bell)
By Ellis Mnyandu
NEW YORK, March 3 (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…
