NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks were mostly flat on Friday as China’s currency stabilized and oil edged up after hitting its lowest price in more than six years. Slightly disappointing European growth figures weighed on stock markets there.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose five points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 17,411 as of 11:24 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped less than one point to 2,082. The Nasdaq composite fell 16 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,020.
CHINA CALM: China’s currency, the yuan, was stable after falling sharply earlier this week. On Friday, the dollar was buying 6.403 yuan, little changed from the previous day when Zhang Xiaohu, a deputy governor at People’s Bank of China, said there is “no basis for persistent and substantial devaluation.”
OIL LOW: The price of crude oil is rising after hitting its lowest price in more than six years amid concerns over a slowing economy in China, a huge energy consumer, and abundant global production. The price of benchmark U.S. crude rose 17 cents to $42.40 a barrel.
RETAILERS JUMP: J.C. Penney rose 56 cents, or 8.6 percent, to $8.62 after reporting a narrower loss in its second quarter on stronger-than-expected sales as the department store chain continues to turn its business around. Nordstrom also beat expectations in results reported after markets closed Thursday. It rose $3.81 cent, or 5.1 percent, $78.73.
On Thursday, the Commerce Department reported U.S. retail sales climbed last month, raising hopes of continued good news for stores the current quarter.
CHIP DIP: Applied Materials fell 75 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $16.31 after the chip-making equipment company said that revenue for its most recent reporting period fell short of analysts’ expectations. The company also said sales for the current quarter could fall as much as 7 percent.
EUROPEAN GROWTH: Figures from The European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat, showed that economic growth across the region was 0.3 percent, down slightly from 0.4 percent growth in the first three months of the year. France and Italy were the main disappointments in the figures. German growth was also underwhelming when exports were taken out.
EUROPE SLIPS: Germany’s DAX fell 0.1 percent and the CAC-40 in France fell 0.4 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.2 percent.
GREEK BAILOUT: Greek lawmakers approved a draft of their country’s third bailout. The government needed the bill to pass in time for its finance minister to head to Brussels to meet his eurozone counterparts, who will decide Friday afternoon whether to approve the draft deal. Greece needs the 85 billion euros ($93 billion) from the bailout to avoid defaulting on its debts.
BONDS: Bond prices fell slightly, pushing up the yield on the 10-year Treasury note to 2.20 percent from 2.19 percent on Thursday.
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