Wall Street stocks continued their recent volatile pattern to finish the week lower amid mixed corporate results and uncertainty about the pace of economic growth.

By the close on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.5 per cent down at 10,140.12 on the day as the broader S&P 500 index gave up 0.5 per cent to 1,154.05. The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7 per cent to 1,976.80.

For the week, the Dow lost 2 per cent, the S&P 500 declined 1.5 per cent while the Nasdaq managed a 0.5 per cent gain, helped by positive earnings from several technology bellwethers.

While retail sales figures on Thursday and trade deficit data two days earlier turned out much better than expected, investor sentiment was damped by disappointing data on consumer confidence on Friday. A tumble in crude futures also signalled expectations that slowing economic activity might weigh on demand for oil.

In addition, disappointing earnings results from Wal-Mart on Thursday indicated a shift in consumer behaviour towards low-end, low-margin merchandise. This further fanned worries about a prolonged “soft patch” in US economic activity.

Wal-Mart shares declined 2 per cent on Thursday. Target, its chief rival, rose 1.2 per cent in the same session as it reported higher earnings. For the week, Wal-Mart lost 3.7 per cent while Target gained 3.7 per cent by the close on Friday.

Dell Computer, the world’s largest maker of personal computers, confounded fears about the outlook for profits by reporting a 28 per cent rise in quarterly profits after the Thursday close. Dell saw its shares add 7.4 per cent to $39.33 on Friday, to finish the week 5.9 per cent higher.

Dell concluded a busy week for corporate earnings that came mostly from the retail sector but included another technology bell-wether Cisco Systems.

The world’s largest networking products company reported higher quarterly earnings after the Wednesday close and saw shares gain 1.9 per cent in the following session. Cisco had gained 4.8 per cent for the week.

Elsewhere in technology, plans by Yahoo to launch an online music service took a bite out of Apple Computer’s valuation mid-week as investors fretted about increased competitive pressures on Apple’s iTunes service, which accompanies its popular iPod music players.

Apple shares declined 2.2 per cent on Wednesday. RealNetworks, also likely to be affected by Yahoo’s plans, saw its shares lose 21.1 per cent. Napster, a name once synonymous with online music, was off 26.8 per cent during the same session. By Friday’s close, Yahoo put on 0.9 per cent for the week as Apple lost 6.6 per cent. RealNetworks lost 24.9 per cent and Napster fell 39.7 per cent.

Retailers reporting quarterly results and monthly sales this week included restaurant operators and grocers. Mergers and acquisitions continued to provide a backdrop for trading, even though the traditional perception that M&A activity signals increased confidence about the future of the economy failed to spur broad gains across the board.

On Monday, Duke Energy announced it would take over Cinergy in a $9bn all-stock transaction that would create a company with 5.4m retail customers. The news sent shares in Cinergy 5.8 per cent higher for the session as Duke stock declined 1.8 per cent. For the week, Cinergy was 1.7 per cent up as Duke lost 6.1 per cent.

The following session saw a merger in the technology sector as two developers of speech recognition technology combined forces. Nuance Communications rose 39 per cent on the news that it would be acquired by ScanSoft, declining 16.8 per cent that session. For the week, Nuance gained 46.6 per cent, while ScanSoft fell 12.8 per cent.

The volatile oil price also attracted attention. After a dramatic rise in crude futures earlier in the week kept market gains in check, a tumble on Thursday triggered a decline in energy stocks. ExxonMobil fell 4.3 per cent during the session as Marathon Oil lost 5.1 per cent. For the week, Exxon was down 6.8 per cent, while shares in Marathon gave up 6.2 per cent.

[此贴子已经被作者于2005-5-14 15:58:39编辑过]