Stocks edged lower in late-afternoon trading yesterday after two blue-chip giants - JP Morgan Chase & Co and Hewlett-Packard - made discouraging remarks about their financial outlook.
Financial services heavyweight JP Morgan Chase said it expects lower trading revenues in the quarters ahead, while leading computer maker H-P warned the slowdown in information technology was becoming global, eroding hopes for a recovery in the industry.
The announcements spooked traders already nervous ahead of the so-called "confession period," when firms announce their profits and revenues will fall short of expectations. The Nasdaq composite was down after swaying between gains and losses.
"I don't think there's any consensus," on how much the economic slump has already been factored into stocks, said Rob Cohen, a trader at Credit Suisse First Boston. "That's why we're all over the place. Hewlett-Packard spooked a lot of lot of people, but now it seems that investors are thinking it's just a company-specific issue."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 105.6 points to 11,070.24, dragged down by financial services and tech shares. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 13.54 points to 1,270.03. Some stocks found buyers, but the tech-packed Nasdaq Composite Index still lost 15.92 points to 2,217.74.
