U.S. stocks moved mostly lower in early trading Monday as investors sized up the latest batch of company earnings and new data indicating China’s economy grew at the slowest pace in six years. Energy stocks were among the biggest decliners as the price of oil and other commodities fell.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 36 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,179 as of 10:03 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slid four points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,029. The Nasdaq added five points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,892. The market is coming off its third straight week of gains.
COMMODITIES’ EFFECT: Lower commodity prices helped pull down shares in oil companies and materials makers. Chevron shed $1.48, or 1.6 percent, to $89.81, the Dow’s biggest decliner. Freeport-McMoRan gave up 27 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $12.17.
ROUGH QUARTER: Morgan Stanley slumped 6 percent after reporting a sharp drop in quarterly earnings as the bank’s bond trading business weakened. The stock fell $1.99, or 5.9 percent, to $31.96.
BIG CHANGES: Shares in Deutsche Bank AG rose 2.6 percent a day after Germany’s biggest bank said it is restructuring its divisions and making changes to its management structure in an effort to streamline its business. The stock gained 66 cents to $26.63.
OPRAH WEIGHS IN: Weight Watchers surged 77 percent on news that Oprah Winfrey is paying about $43.2 million for a 10 percent stake in Weight Watchers and is joining the weight management company’s board. Winfrey also agreed to endorse the company’s programs and services, and to help promote the company. Weight Watchers’ shares climbed $5.26 to $12.05.
CHINA GROWTH: Data released Monday showed that China’s economic growth decelerated in the latest quarter but relatively robust spending by Chinese consumers helped to avert a deeper downturn. The world’s second-largest economy grew by 6.9 percent in the three months ended in September, down from the previous quarter’s 7 percent and the slowest since early 2009 in the aftermath of the global crisis. Growth of 6.8 percent had been forecast by analysts.
MARKETS OVERSEAS: In Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 0.7 percent, while France’s CAC 40 rose 0.1 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 inched down 0.4 percent. In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost an early gain to end down 0.1 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended little changed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.9 percent.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 98 cents to $46.75 a barrel in New York.
BONDS & CURRENCIES: U.S. government bond prices fell slightly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.04 percent. The dollar edged up to 119.46 yen and the euro fell to $1.1317.
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