NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell back Tuesday from record levels as investors reacted to some disappointing company earnings.
NRG Energy slumped after the company lowered its earnings forecast for this year and next. That report helped push down the stocks of power companies, making them the biggest decliners in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
News Corp. fell after the company posted an unexpected revenue decline because of weakness at the company’s Australian newspapers.
This year’s surge in stocks has slowed to a grind in November. The market has held on to its gains but hasn’t added to them significantly.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at an all-time high on three of the past four trading days as investors become more optimistic about the economy after an unexpectedly strong jobs report Friday.
Stocks have climbed to record levels this year as the Federal Reserve kept up its $85 billion a month in bond purchases to keep interest rates low and boost the economy. Now investors may start focusing more on an improving economy rather than the future of economic stimulus, said Joe Quinlan, chief market strategist for U.S. Trust Bank of America Private Wealth Management.
“It’s not going to be gangbusters, but this economy is getting a head of steam as we go into 2014,” Mr. Quinlan said.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 63 points, or 0.4 percent, to 15,721 as of 12:07 p.m. EST. The S&P 500 index was down seven points, or 0.4 percent, at 1,764. The Nasdaq composite fell 15 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,904.
Eight of the 10 industry sectors in the S&P 500 index fell, and two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
Utility stocks dropped the most, led by NRG Energy, which fell 96 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $27.07. News Corp. fell 38 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $17.04.
In U.S. government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed to 2.78 percent from 2.75 percent Friday. The bond market was closed Monday for the Veterans Day holiday.
In commodities trading, the price of oil fell 98 cents, or 1 percent, to $94.15 a barrel. The price of gold dropped $5.70, or 0.4 percent, to $1,275.40 an ounce.
Among other stocks making big moves:
• Dean Foods, a major milk producer, dropped $1.57, or 8 percent, to $18.14 after cutting its profit forecast.
• Dish Network climbed $2.33, or 4.8 percent, to $49.79 after the satellite television provider returned to profitability in the third quarter, beating analysts’ expectations.
• D.R. Horton rose 30 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $18.42 after the homebuilder said its net income rose 39 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.