Market report

Telecom stocks lead market lower

A day of mostly listless trading on Wall Street ended Thursday with U.S. stocks giving back modest gains from the day before.

Telecom sector stocks declined the most, weighed down by a slide in shares of AT&T, Sprint and other phone companies. Only health care stocks eked out a gain. The broad slide snapped a two-day winning streak for the market. Energy futures and precious metals also closed lower.

Investors mostly waded through another round of earnings reports, looking to glean insights into the health of corporate America and the U.S. economy. While some companies turned in disappointing results, most of those that have posted earnings so far are beating financial analysts' expectations, said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade.

"Overall, it's been a very, very good earnings season," Kinahan said.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 40.27 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,162.35. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 2.95 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,141.34. The Nasdaq composite index slid 4.58 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,241.83.

The major stock indexes are all up for the week.

About 15 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported quarterly results so far this earnings period. Of those, more than 80 percent have turned in earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations, Kinahan said.

On Thursday, investors bid up shares in American Express, which reported better-than-anticipated earnings late Wednesday and also raised its annual outlook. The stock was the biggest gainer in the S&P 500, climbing $5.53, or 9 percent, to $66.78.

"Financials continue to perform and continue to provide support, American Express being the latest example," Kinahan said.

Beyond earnings, traders also weighed some new economic data Thursday.

The Labor Department said weekly applications for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level in five weeks, though it remained close to a recent 43-year low. Separately, the National Association of Realtors said that sales of previously owned homes rose 3.2 percent from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.47 million, the strongest pace since June.

Stock indexes in Europe closed higher. Germany's DAX gained 0.5 percent, while France's CAC-40 rose 0.4 percent. London's FTSE 100 added 0.1 percent. Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 1.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.3 percent.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.17, or 2.3 percent, to close at $50.43 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slid $1.29, or 2.4 percent, to close at $51.38 a barrel in London.

Other energy futures also closed lower. Wholesale gasoline fell 2 cents to $1.49 a gallon. Heating oil slid 3 cents to $1.56 a gallon. Natural gas lost 3 cents to $3.14 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In metals trading, the price of gold fell $2.40 to $1,267.50 an ounce, while silver lost 11 cents to $17.55 an ounce. Copper was little changed at $2.10 a pound.

Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 1.75 percent.

In currency markets, the dollar increased to 103.96 yen from 103.39 on Wednesday, while the euro weakened to $1.0928 from $1.2275.

Business on 10/21/2016

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