Markets Slip Despite Positive Data

Stocks pulled back from record highs Wednesday afternoon.

By the end of trading, the Standard Poor’s 500-share index was 0.4 percent lower and the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.2 percent. The Nasdaq composite, after dipping, ended less than a point higher.

The big mover was Apple, which said sales of iPhones helped quarterly profits rise by more than expected. Its shares were 5.2 percent higher.

“Last night’s numbers from Apple were also a welcome respite for the tech sector which has struggled in the current earnings season,” said Andy McLevey, head of dealing at Interactive Investor.

Markit, a financial information company, said its monthly purchasing managers’ index for the 17 European Union countries that use the euro rose for the fourth consecutive month in July, to 50.4 points, from 48.7 the previous month.

The increase, larger than anticipated, suggests the euro zone economy is growing again; anything above 50 points indicates an expansion. Hopes have grown of late that official figures next month may show that the euro zone’s recession, which started in late 2011, may have come to an end in the second quarter.

In Europe Germany’s DAX rose 0.8 percent to close at 8,379.11 while the CAC 40 in France rose 1 percent to 3,962.75. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares ended 0.4 percent higher at 6,620.43. Markit’s P.M.I. survey did little for the euro, which was trading flat, but near recent highs, at $1.3211.

Earlier during the Asian session, Chinese shares were in focus after a survey showed the country’s manufacturing fell to its lowest point in nearly a year. HSBC said its preliminary estimate for its purchasing managers’ index for July declined more than expected, to an 11-month low, another sign of a deepening economic slowdown.

The widely watched report is one of the earliest indicators on the health of China’s economy, the world’s second-biggest after that of the United States. Analysts say the findings pave the way for more disappointment.

The Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China closed 0.5 percent lower, at 2,033.33 points, after falling as much as 1.3 percent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.3 percent, to 14,731.28 points. Other indexes reversed earlier losses to finish in positive territory. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2 percent, to 21,968.93 points, and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.4 percent, to 1,912.

In the oil markets, the benchmark crude contract for September delivery was down $1.98 at $105.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/25/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss