Stocks closed lower on Wall Street Wednesday after another sharp slide for the price of crude dragged down big oil-and-gas stocks. The price of crude oil sank more than 4%, touching its lowest level since June. Marathon Petroleum fell 3.9%. Treasury yields also fell.
- The S&P 500 fell 17.84 points, or 0.4%, to 4,549.34 for its third straight loss, locking in its longest losing streak since October. Each of those drops was modest, though, and the index remains near its best level in 20 months.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 70.13 points, or 0.2%, to 36,054.43.
- The Nasdaq composite fell 83.20 points, or 0.6%, to 14,146.71.
Crude prices have been generally falling for the last two months on expectations that too much oil is available for the global economy's demand. A barrel of benchmark US crude slumped $2.94 to settle at $69.38. It was above $93 in September. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 3.8% to $74.30 per barrel. Helping to counter drops in energy stocks was a gain of 1.9% for homebuilder Toll Brothers, which reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, the AP reports. It also said demand from buyers has remained solid so far in the current quarter, thanks in part to slightly easier rates available for mortgages.
More reports came Wednesday to suggest the Federal Reserve could hold steady on interest rates for now. Its next meeting on interest rates is in a week, and the widespread expectation is for it to leave its main interest rate alone at its highest level in more than two decades. One report said private employers added fewer jobs last month than economists expected. While no one on Wall Street wants to see massive layoffs, a cooldown in the job market could remove upward pressure on inflation. A separate report on Wednesday said US businesses were able to increase the amount of stuff they produced in the summer by more than the total number of hours their employees worked.
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Within the S&P 500, Campbell Soup was one of the biggest winners and rose 7.1% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected. Travel-related companies were strong thanks to the drop in oil prices. Carnival rose 5.9%, and Norwegian Cruise Line gained 3.3%. Airlines were also flying high. Delta Air Lines climbed 3.5% after it told investors it's sticking to its forecasts for revenue and profit for the end of 2023. United Airlines rose 3.4%, and Southwest Airlines gained 3%. On the losing end of Wall Street was Brown-Forman, the company whose brands include Jack Daniel's whiskey. It fell 10.4% after reporting weaker earnings than analysts had forecast. It also cut its forecast for a measure of sales growth for the full year.
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