NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks fell Friday as health care and technology companies continued to report weak first-quarter results, but thanks to some late buying, they managed to avoid major losses.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 57.12 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,773.64. It was down as much as 178 points earlier in the day. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 10.51 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,065.30. The Nasdaq composite index lost 29.93 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,775.36. That was its seventh decline in a row.
Stocks opened lower and fell further throughout the morning, extending a downturn from Thursday. That followed a rout in European indexes. Late in the day bond prices rose again, sending yields lower and pushing investors to buy utility and phone-company stocks.
Dan Suzuki, senior U.S. equities strategist at Bank of America, said investors don't like what they're seeing in the results from technology companies.
"A lot of investors have been disappointed by results from tech this earnings season," he said. So they are turning to bondlike stocks such as phone and utility companies, as well as small- and midcap stocks, which struggled in 2015.
"Everything that was working through last year has been an underperformer this year, and vice versa," he said.
Health care companies took the biggest losses after a bout of weak earnings reports. Biotech drugmaker Gilead Sciences said its results were hurt by big discounts and rebates on its costly hepatitis-C medicines, and its stock lost $8.79, or 9.1 percent, to $88.21. Rival biotech giant Amgen reported relatively solid results but fell $2.26, or 1.4 percent, to $158.30.
Health insurer Molina Healthcare lowered its full-year guidance because of higher medical-care costs in Ohio and Texas, expenses related to recent acquisitions, and pharmacy costs, especially in Puerto Rico. The stock plunged $12.46, or 19.4 percent, to $51.76.
Molecular diagnostics company Cepheid shed $6.86, or 19.4 percent, to $28.54 as analysts were disappointed with its revenue projections for the second quarter.
Tech stocks continued to slide. After its profit fell short of estimates, electronic storage company Seagate Technology lost $5.13, or 19.1 percent, to $21.77. Hard-drive-maker Western Digital dropped $5.19, or 11.3 percent, to $40.87. Apple, which is in a deep two-week slide, fell another $1.09, or 1.1 percent, to $93.74. Like the Nasdaq, Apple has fallen for seven days in a row.
Bond prices rose slightly, and yields continue to slip. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.82 percent from 1.83 percent. Utility companies made the biggest gains, as NextEra Energy added $1.11, or 1 percent, to $117.58.
While earnings hurt tech and health care companies, better results at consumer companies sent those stocks higher. E-commerce giant Amazon said its revenue jumped 28 percent in the first quarter, and the company turned a far bigger profit than analysts expected. Cloud-based Amazon Web Services performed well. Amazon shares rose $57.59, or 9.6 percent, to $659.59.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 11 cents to $45.92 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 1 cent to $48.13 a barrel in London.
Business on 04/30/2016