US: Stocks mostly lower after mixed data

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks finished mostly lower on Friday (Aug 15) with chip companies under pressure as markets digested mixed US economic data.

US retail sales climbed 0.5 per cent in July to US$726.3 billion from June, in line with analyst expectations and a solid performance after numerous tariff announcements by President Donald Trump.

But the Federal Reserve’s index for industrial production edged down in July, while the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey fell for the first time in four months.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.1 per cent gain at 44,946.12, after earlier hitting an intraday all-time high.

But the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.3 per cent to 6,449.8, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slid 0.4 per cent to 21,622.57.

Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers said Friday’s reports amounted to a “difficult combination” of data that the market took in stride.

“When the news is good, (stocks) react really positively,” he said. “And when the news isn’t good, they just go down a little.”

Several semiconductor companies traded lower following a disappointing outlook from Applied Materials, which tumbled 14.1 per cent as it warned of lower revenues in the current quarter while it navigates “near-term uncertainties” in economic conditions.

Trump also announced plans to set tariffs on semiconductors in the coming weeks.

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Lam Research, KLA and Micron Technology all finished sharply lower.

But UnitedHealth Group surged 12 per cent after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed an equity stake in the insurer, which has been beset with government investigations into its billing practices. AFP