The major U.S. stock indexes are veering mostly lower in afternoon trading after a midday gain faded away. Technology stocks and retailers did the most to pull the market lower. Safe-play stocks like utilities, real estate companies and makers of consumer products were holding up better. The market is coming off its best day in more than two years following a steep slide last week.
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KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 5 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,652 as of 2 p.m. Eastern Time. The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 33 points, or 0.1 percent, to 24,233. It jumped 669 points a day earlier. The Nasdaq fell 85 points, or 1.2 percent, to 7,134. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks slid 10 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,532.
TWEET THIS: Shares in Twitter slumped 7.7 percent after Citron Research said it is shorting the social media portal, citing Twitter’s reliance on licensing its users’ data. The remarks come ahead of a Senate hearing on data privacy set for next month. The stock gave up $2.46 to $29.45. Facebook, whose shares have been hard hit recently amid heightened government scrutiny into the social media giant’s collection of private user data, also declined, sliding another $5.76, or 3.6 percent, to $154.23. Facebook has lost 20 percent of its value since hitting a record high February 1.
UNDER INVESTIGATION: Tesla fell 4.4 percent on news that the National Transportation Safety Board has sent two investigators to look into a fatal crash and fire Friday in California that involved a Tesla electric SUV. The agency said on Twitter that it’s not clear whether the Tesla Model X was operating on its semi-autonomous control system called Autopilot at the time. The stock lost $13.53 to $290.65.
ECONOMIC SNAPSHOTS: The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slipped to 127.7 this month, down from 130 in February, which was the highest reading since November 2000. The business research group’s index measures consumers’ assessment of current conditions and their outlook for the next six months. Separately, the latest Standard & Poor’s CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home price index shows prices jumped 6.2 percent in January from a year earlier, pushed higher by a persistent shortage of homes for sale.
PHARMA DEAL: U.S.-listed shares of British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline rose 3.5 percent after the company agreed to buy out its Swiss partner Novartis in their consumer health joint venture for $13 billion in cash. GlaxoSmithKline gained $1.31 to $38.74.
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BANNER QUARTER: Red Hat shares climbed 3 percent after the software company reported strong fourth-quarter results. The stock added $4.55 to $157.64.
GOOD CHEMISTRY: Chemours rose 2.5 percent as investors welcomed the chemicals supply company’s new fiscal year earnings outlook. The stock picked up $1.18 to $48.64.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude slipped 14 cents to $65.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, shed 2 cents to $69.50.
BOND YIELDS: Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.81 percent from 2.85 percent late Monday.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 105.77 yen from 105.22 yen on Monday. The euro fell to $1.2412 from $1.2455.
MARKETS OVERSEAS: In Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 1.6 percent, while France’s CAC 40 gained 1 percent. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares added 1.6 percent. In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 2.7 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.7 percent. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.6 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.8 percent.
