Banks lead US stock indexes mostly lower; energy bucks trend
U.S. stock indexes turned mostly higher in afternoon trading Tuesday, led by gains in energy companies as the price of crude oil rebounded. Technology stocks were among the gainers. Gold closed higher. Financial companies were down the most. Investors were looking ahead to the start of the second-quarter company earnings season and Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's testimony to Congress.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1 point, or 0.1 percent, to 2,425 as of 2:23 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 13 points, or 0.1 percent, to 21,422. The Nasdaq composite rose 13 points, or 0.2 percent, to 6,189. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 2 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,410. More stocks rose than fell on the New York Stock Exchange.
THE QUOTE: "We're in a sort of wait-and-see pattern right now ahead of Yellen's testimony in front of Congress," said Nadia Lovell, U.S. equity strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. "Also, people are waiting to get more clarity with earnings kicking off in earnest with the banks on Thursday and Friday."
YELLEN FACTOR: Traders are looking ahead to potential news out of the Federal Reserve when Yellen addresses Congress on Wednesday and Thursday. Investors will look for clues as to how aggressively the Fed will continue to raise rates and start to unwind its big bond-buying program. The latest U.S. economic reports, particularly for jobs, have been upbeat.
EARNINGS ON DECK: Investors were making modest moves ahead of the next corporate earnings reporting season, which ramps up this week. PepsiCo served up its results early Tuesday. Delta Air Lines, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are among the big companies due to report their latest quarterly results this week.
ENERGY BOOST: Energy sector companies led the gainers. Devon Energy rose 96 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $30.69. Range Resources added 29 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $22.06.
REJECTED: Rent-A-Center climbed 9 percent after its board of directors rejected a takeover offer of $15 a share from Vintage Capital Management. Rent-A-Center rose $1 to $12.10.
BANKING SLIDE: Financials companies took heavy losses. T. Rowe Price Group slid $1.98, or 2.6 percent, to $75.07. Invesco lost 74 cents, or 2 percent, to $35.73. Bank of America declined 34 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $24.56.
EXECUTIVE SHUFFLE: Citrix Systems fell 1.6 percent after the business software company announced that CEO Kirill Tatarinov has been replaced by David Henshall, the company's chief financial officer. The stock gave up $1.28 to $78.65.
SNAPPED: The parent company of the disappearing-message service Snapchat closed below its IPO price on Monday. Snap slid $1.36, or 8 percent, to $15.63.
NOT SO REFRESHING: PepsiCo reported better-than-expected quarterly results as higher prices for drinks and snacks boosted both profit and revenue for the beverage and packaged foods company. PepsiCo's sales volumes in North America were soft, however. That appeared to weigh on the company's shares, which slid 53 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $113.74.
BONDS: Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.37 percent from 2.38 percent late Monday.
OIL: The price of oil rebounded after dipping earlier in the day. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 66 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $45.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 69 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $47.57 a barrel in London.
METALS: Gold rose $1.50 to $1,214.70 an ounce. Silver added 12 cents to $15.75 an ounce. Copper inched up 2 cents to $2.67 a pound.
MARKETS OVERSEAS: In Europe, Germany's DAX lost 0.1 percent, while France's CAC40 fell 0.5 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 slid 0.5 percent. Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 0.6 percent on expectations the yen will weaken further against the dollar as the central bank strives to keep long-term bond yields low. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.5 percent, while the Kospi in South Korea climbed 0.6 percent.
CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 113.94 from 114.05 yen late Monday. The euro strengthened to $1.1470 from $1.1403.