US stocks dip as banks and energy companies fall

NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. stocks are losing ground Friday as banks fall and energy companies continue to slide. The Dow Jones industrial average is on track to break a 10-day winning streak. The losses are modest, but there's far more selling than buying on Wall Street.

Investors are looking for safer places to put their money, as they've done over the last few days. Bond prices are rising and yields are dropping. That's sending interest rates lower, which hurts banks. High-dividend stocks are rising.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 60 points, or 0.3 percent, to 20,749 as of 2:50 p.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 5 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,358. The Nasdaq composite sank 6 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,829. The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller companies, slid 2 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,392. Major indexes are mixed this week but remain close to all-time highs.

BONDS: Bond prices sank again. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slid to 2.32 percent from 2.39 percent. Lower bond yields push interest rates lower, which means banks will make less money on mortgages and other loans. Wells Fargo slipped $1.10, or 1.9 percent, to $57.39 and Bank of America fell 49 cents, or 2 percent, to $24.09. Investment banks and insurers traded lower as well.

With yields down, investors bought utility stocks and phone company stocks, which pay large dividends similar to bonds. Exelon gained $1.02, or 2.8 percent, to $37 and NextEra Energy rose $2.44, or 1.9 percent, to $130.63.

HPE HURTING: Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which sells data-center hardware and other commercial tech gear to big organizations, slumped after it cut its profit estimate for the year. Its business was hurt by the strong dollar, expenses, and other problems that it said will be "near-term." HP Enterprise's quarterly sales dropped 10 percent and weren't as strong as analysts hoped. Its stock skidded $1.71, or 6.9 percent, to $22.96.

Chipmakers and other technology companies also lost ground.

METAL GAINS: Gold and silver continued to rise. Gold, which jumped 1.5 percent a day earlier, picked up 0.6 percent to $1,258.30 an ounce. The metal is trading at its highest price since just after the presidential election, although it's down sharply from this summer. Silver added 1.2 percent to $18.34 an ounce and copper picked up 1.4 percent to $2.70 a pound after a steep loss the previous day. That helped mining companies trade higher.

PENNEY POUNDED: Department store operator J.C. Penney said it will close 130 to 140 stores and two distribution centers in the next few months. That's about 14 percent of its stores. Penney also said it will offer voluntary early retirement plans to about 6,000 employees. The company is trying to cut costs as it competes with online retailers. Its stock gave up 31 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $6.55.

Competitor Nordstrom jumped after it disclosed a better-than-expected quarterly profit with help from strong sales online and at Nordstrom Rack. Its shares gained $2.952, or 6.7 percent, to $46.89. Kohl's also rose $2.24, or 5.5 percent, to $43.15. The stock dipped Thursday after investors weren't thrilled by the company's fourth-quarter report.

PRISON STOCKS: For-profit prison operator Geo Group rose $1.40, or 3 percent, to $48.77 and CoreCivic added 75 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $34.75. Late Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed the federal Bureau of Prisons to continue doing business with private prison operators. That reversed an Obama administration policy that sent the stocks tumbling when it was announced in August.

The companies operate detention facilities used by Immigration and Customs enforcement as well as prisons and they get a lot of their revenue from contracts with the federal government. Since Donald Trump was elected president in November their stocks have soared, as investors expected the Obama-era policy would be reversed and that Trump's policies toward immigration and criminal justice would strengthen their business. CoreCivic has climbed 140 percent since the election and Geo Group has doubled in value.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 46 cents to $53.99 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for pricing international oils, fell 59 cents, or 1 percent, to $55.99 a barrel in London. Energy companies continued to trade lower. They've fallen sharply over the last month. The S&P 500 energy company index is down 7 percent this year while the broader S&P 500 is up more than 5 percent.

OTHER ENERGY TRADING: Wholesale gasoline declined 1 cent to $1.51 a gallon. Heating oil fell 2 cents to $1.64 a gallon. Natural gas picked up 1 cent to $2.63 per 1,000 cubic feet.

CURRENCIES: The dollar slid to 112.12 yen from 112.75 yen. The euro fell to $1.0561 from $1.0574.

OVERSEAS: The DAX in Germany fell 1.2 percent and France's CAC 40 slumped 0.9 percent. In Britain the FTSE 100 shed 0.4 percent. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.5 percent and South Korea's Kospi fell 0.6 percent. The Hang Seng of Hong Kong fell 0.5 percent.

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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