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| financial markets (The Total Investment
& Insurance Solutions) |
Large technology
companies and smaller U.S.-focused firms are rising again Friday morning and
taking stocks to more record highs. Tyson Foods is climbing after it gave
strong profit forecasts, and investors cheered strong quarterly results from
homebuilder KB Home. Stocks are wrapping up their eighth consecutive quarterly
gain. The Total Investment &
Insurance Solutions
KEEPING SCORE: The
Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,517 as of
12:30 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2 points to
22,379. The Nasdaq composite jumped 39 points, or 0.6 percent, to 6,493. The
S&P 500 and Nasdaq are both on track to finish at all-time highs.
The Russell 2000 index
of small-company stocks added 4 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,493. It's also at
record highs after a big rally this month.
YUMMY: Tyson Foods
jumped after the food company raised its annual guidance and said profits for
its beef business were better than expected. The company now expects to earn
between $5.20 and $5.30 a share while analyst expected $5.05 a share, according
to FactSet. Tyson is also cutting costs and said it will eliminate 450 more
jobs. The company projects a profit of $5.70 to $5.85 a share for its next
year, well above the $5.32 analysts expected.
Tyson climbed $5.05, or
7.7 percent, to $70.50. The stock has risen more on Friday than it had all
year. Other packaged food companies also rose. Hormel Foods, whose brands
include Skippy, rose 56 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $32.27 and Campbell Soup
gained 40 cents to $47.45. Those companies have struggled in recent years as
Americans look for fresher food options.
SWEET HOME: KB Home
advanced after its third-quarter profit and sales for homebuilder beat
estimates. The stock rose $2.04, or 9.2 percent, to $24.26. Other homebuilders
made smaller gains. Meritage Homes picked up 88 cents, or 2 percent, to $44.43
and Lennar advanced 56 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $170.61.
TECH BACK ON TOP:
Technology companies rose further and they are set to finish as the
best-performing S&P 500 sector in the third quarter. They also held that
distinction in the first quarter. The S&P 500 technology index has climbed
26 percent in 2017, while the S&P 500 is up 12 percent.
Facebook added $1.88, or
1.1 percent, to $52.79 and fiber optic products maker Amphenol jumped $2.33, or
2.8 percent, to $84.61. Chipmaker Applied Materials rose $1.22, or 2.4 percent,
to $51.84. The recent gains for tech companies have come in spite of a slump
for Apple, the world's most valuable publicly-traded company. Apple is down
about 4.5 percent since it announced its new line of iPhones and other products
Sept. 12. The Total Investment &
Insurance Solutions
SPRINTING: Sporting
goods retailer Finish Line continued to rally after the New York Post reported
that the company is in talks to sell itself to Sports Direct, a British company
that owns the Everlast and Kangol Brands. The stock gained 58 cents, or 5
percent, to $12.24. The Total
Investment & Insurance Solutions
Finish Line hit
eight-year lows in late August as weak sales of shoes and other challenges for
it and its competitors continued to mount. The stock has jumped 33 percent in
the last six days, but it's still down 35 percent this year.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S.
crude fell 10 cents to $51.46 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard
for international oil prices, shed 35 cents to $56.81 a barrel in London. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
Energy companies gave
back some of their recent gains. They've climbed in the third quarter thanks to
a rally in the price of crude oil. U.S. crude is up about 12 percent since the
end of June. The Total Investment &
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Oilfield services
company Baker Hughes lost 48 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $36.55 and Occidental
Petroleum fell 59 cents to $64.38.
ECONOMIC DATA: U.S.
consumer spending inched up 0.1 percent in August, according to the Commerce
Department, and wages and salaries were unchanged. That could be a hint
third-quarter economic growth will be weaker.
BONDS: Bond prices
turned lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.32 percent from
2.31 percent. The Total Investment
& Insurance Solutions
CURRENCIES: The dollar
rose to 112.67 yen from 112.39 yen. The euro rose to $1.1808 from $1.1791. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
OVERSEAS: Germany's DAX
added 1 percent and the FTSE 100 in Britain gained 0.7 percent. The French CAC
40 rose 0.7 percent. In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 inched down less than
0.1 percent. South Korea's Kospi jumped 0.9 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng
edged up 0.5 percent.The Total
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