Dow and S&P fall with oil shares
The Dow and S&P 500 declined on Monday as energy company shares fell on lower oil prices and investors worried about the economy, but Nasdaq rose, lifted by Apple Inc.
Oil dropped 2 percent amid economic concerns, sending Exxon Mobil Corp down 2.1 percent at $90.15. The stock weighed on the Dow and S&P 500.
Apple, which rose 1.5 percent to $173.06 and gave Nasdaq the biggest boost, is scheduled to report earnings after the close.
Wall Street brokerage Lehman Brothers Inc. downgraded the mortgage finance sector as well as individual finance companies, including American Express Co., which is expected to report results this afternoon.
Our economy is slowing down, and I don't think we're going to be able to make it all up (in profits) overseas. So I think we have a little bit more downside, said Victor Pugliese, director of listed equity trading at First Albany Corp. in San Francisco.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 80.31 points, or 0.59 percent, at 13,441.71. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 6.96 points, or 0.46 percent, at 1,493.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.38 points, or 0.01 percent, at 2,725.54.
On Friday the Dow industrials lost 366 points on the 20th anniversary of the 1987 market crash.
You would think you'd have some follow-through from Friday, and that we still have a way to go down, Pugliese said.
Schering-Plough Corp fell 13.4 percent to $28.31 after the company reported third-quarter profit and sales that fell short of Wall Street's target.
Analyst Bruce Harting of Lehman Brothers said it was only a matter time before home mortgage payment problems spread to credit cards, auto loans and other types of consumer debt.
Shares of American Express fell 2.3 percent to $55.78 after the Lehman downgrade.
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