New York Report: Wall Street dips despite good growth figures
US STOCKS closed mixed yesterday as the Dow gave back early gains despite reports that economic growth rebounded sharply in the second quarter and the labour market continued to show signs of improvement.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 31 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 16,880, while the S&P 500 index closed little changed at 1,970. the Nasdaq composite rose 20 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 4,462.
Twitter surged 20 per cent to $46.30, its biggest ever one-day advance, after reporting that monthly active users rose a better-than-expected 24 per cent in the second quarter. In after hours trading on Tuesday, the microblogging site rocketed by more than 35 per cent.
Insurance stocks fell after Humana, WellPoint and Aflac all reported lower earnings, though WellPoint’s profit was above expectations.
Humana fell 5.6 per cent to $120.34, WellPoint lost 0.1 per cent to $112.47, and Aflac slid 2.8 per cent to $61.38. UnitedHealth lost 1.6 per cent to $82.95 and was the biggest drag on the Dow.
After the bell, shares of Whole Foods Markets fell 5.4 per cent to $36.99 after the company cut its 2014 forecasts for a fourth time. Akamai Technologies declined 5.9 per cent to $57.17 following its results.
Sliding sales for Goodyear Tire & Rubber knocked its stock down $2.14, or eight per cent, to $25.45.