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US markets close low

16 February 2009 08:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev - APA-Economics. The Dow fell 82.35, or 1.04 percent, to 7,850.41. It was the lowest close since Nov. 20, when the blue-chip index settled at a five-and-a-half month low of 7,552.29, AP reported.
U.S. markets are closed Monday for Presidents Day.
Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 8.35, or 1.00 percent, to 826.84, and the Nasdaq composite index decreased 7.35, or 0.48 percent, to 1,534.36. The S&P 500 ended the week down 4.8 percent, and the Nasdaq finished the week down 3.6 percent.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.06, or 0.46 percent, to 448.36.
eclining issues outnumbered advancers by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 4.5 billion shares, down from 5.65 billion on Thursday.
Bond prices declined. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.90 percent from 2.79 percent late Thursday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, was flat at 0.28 percent.
The dollar fell against most other major currencies. Gold prices also declined.
Light, sweet crude rebounded $3.53 to settle at $37.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling to its lowest price this year on Thursday.
Not all companies’ quarterly results have disappointed Wall Street.
PepsiCo said its fourth-quarter profit fell, but the soft drink maker’s adjusted results met analysts’ expectations. Pepsi shares rose 57 cents to $52.57.
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. said its fourth-quarter profit slid 68 percent due to hefty asset impairment and tax costs and dropping sales. But the results, after stripping out one-time items, beat estimates. The teen retailer’s shares rose $2.08, or 10 percent, to $22.78.
But the outlook for corporate America remains grim, and layoffs keep piling up.
Toyota Motor Corp., slammed by poor U.S. sales, said it is offering buyouts to about 18,000 workers. The Japanese automaker is also slashing executives’ compensation up to 30 percent and cutting production. Toyota’s U.S. shares fell $2.01, or 3 percent, to $65.45.
Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.96 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.30 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.13 percent, and France’s CAC-40 rose 1.13 percent.