NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are falling Tuesday morning as energy companies tumble with the price of oil. Mining and metals companies are also in decline. Stocks overseas were mixed.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average gave up 35 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,499 as of 10:05 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell three points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,034. The Nasdaq composite index lost three points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,764.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude dropped $1.27, or 3.2 percent, to $38.12 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost $1.16, or 2.8 percent, to $39.71 a barrel in London. The price of wholesale gasoline fell 3 percent and heating oil sank 2.4 percent.
Drilling company Transocean lost 61 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $8.70. Hess fell $1.66, or 3.3 percent, to $49.18 and Chevron gave up $1.29, or 1.4 percent, to $93.39.
MEDIVATION INQUIRY: Drugmaker Medivation fell after a group of legislators urged a federal agency to take steps that could cut the price of Medivation’s prostate cancer treatment Xtandi. Xtandi is Medivation’s only approved drug, and sales topped $1 billion last year. The stock shed $4.80, or 11.6 percent, to $36.45.
HOMEBUILDERS RALLY: Homebuilder Lennar is rising after it reported strong quarterly results, selling more homes at higher prices. Its stock gained $1.57, or 3.4 percent, to $48.27. Competitor PulteGroup added 45 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $18.57 and D.R. Horton rose 79 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $30.61.
CONN NOT: Retailer Conn’s skidded $3.15, or 20.1 percent, to $12.50 after its quarterly profit came up short of estimates and its 2016 forecasts disappointed investors.
SUN DOWN: Solar power company SunEdison tumbled after the Wall Street Journal said the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into its financial statements. A company tied to SunEdison also said there is a substantial risk SunEdison will seek bankruptcy protection. The stock fell more than 40 percent, to 74 cents from $1.26.
OVERSEAS: France’s CAC 40 added 0.3 percent but Germany’s DAX was lost 0.3 percent. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares lost 0.5 percent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.2 percent and South Korea’s Kospi added 0.6 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.1 percent.
FED FOCUS: Investors are waiting for Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to give a speech just after 12 p.m. Eastern. Yellen last addressed the public after the Federal Reserve’s meeting two weeks ago and investors will look for more information about the Fed’s interest rate intentions. The Fed left interest rates unchanged this month and it next meets at the end of April.
CURRENCIES: Bond prices rose and the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note slid to 1.86 percent from 1.89 percent. The euro was little changed at $1.1202 after finishing at $1.1200 on Monday. The dollar rose to 113.44 yen from 113.28 yen.
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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
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