Off the wire
• U.S. federal agents search Southern California locations to probe Chinese maternity tourism  • Tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees flee to Cameroon  • China urges parties in South Sudan to stop fighting, form transitional gov't  • Recast: New round of Libya talks to begin this week in Morocco: UN  • U.S. Justice Department finds racial policing in Ferguson: report  • 5.5 bln people has limited or no access to pain relief medication: INCB  • UN, AU call for more efforts to combat gender-based violence in Somalia  • Recast: 5.5 bln people have limited or no access to pain relief medication: INCB  • UN Security Council to visit CAR, Burundi, AU headquarters  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks retreat from records on soft auto sales  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: U.S. stocks retreat from records on soft auto sales

Xinhua, March 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks pulled back Tuesday from record highs, as U.S. vehicle sales in February came in lackluster.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 85.26 points, or 0.47 percent, to 18,203.37. The S&P 500 lost 9.61 points, or 0.45 percent, to 2,107.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 28.20 points, or 0.56 percent, to 4,979.90.

In the absence of major economic reports Tuesday, investors shifted their focus to a batch of auto sales which were weaker than expected. Cold and harsh weather in February was cited as an important reason for less demand.

General Motors said its U.S. February sales climbed 4 percent to 231,378, slightly below market expectations of 233,707. Ford's sales fell 2 percent to 180,383, missing consensus of 194,872.

Fiat Chrysler added 6 percent to 163,586, also narrowly below estimates, while Nissan's sales were up 3 percent to 118,436, compared with estimates of 121,183.

Dampening investor sentiment, overseas markets witnessed a broad-based decline, with Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbling 2.20 percent to finish at 3,263.05 points.

In other corporate news, Best Buy announced financial results Tuesday for the fourth quarter and the year ended Jan. 31, 2015. The company earned an adjusted 1.48 U.S. dollars per share for its latest quarter, beating estimates by 13 cents. Best Buy's shares added 1.42 percent to 39.18 dollars apiece.

Shares of AutoZone rose 0.36 percent to 651.90 dollars apiece after the company reported net sales of 2.1 billion dollars for its second quarter ended Feb. 14, 2015, an increase of 7.7 percent from the second quarter of fiscal 2014.

U.S. stocks kicked off the month with a surge Monday, with the Nasdaq closing above the 5,000 level for the first time since March 2000, while both the Dow and the S&P 500 refreshing their record highs.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose 6.29 percent to end at 13.86 Tuesday.

Oil prices rallied as Israeli Prime Minister called for rejection of a nuclear deal with Iran. Light, sweet crude for April delivery gained 0.93 dollars to settle at 50.52 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for April delivery moved up 1.48 dollars to close at 61.02 dollars a barrel.

The U.S. dollar eased after touching its highest level in 11 years against several major peers.

In late New York trading, the euro declined to 1.1178 dollars from 1.1188 dollars in the previous session, while the greenback bought 119.69 Japanese yen, lower than 120.15 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange decreased Tuesday, with the most active gold contract for April delivery down 3.8 dollars, or 0.31 percent, to settle at 1, 204.40 dollars per ounce. Endite