Money World economy
US stocks closed lower yesterday, dragging key indexes down from 11-month highs, as investors tried to balance hopes for an economic recovery with concerns that recent rallies had taken share prices too high.
Markets had surged to nearly one-year highs on Wednesday, led by gains in financial firms and new figures that indicated industrial production climbed 0.8% in August.
FedEx Corp, the second-largest US package-shipping company, said yesterday that first-quarter profits were down 53%, largely due to the global recession. Business software-maker Oracle reported a 5% decline in quarterly revenue late Wednesday.
AMR Corp, parent company of American Airlines, said it had raised $2.9 billion in cash and new aircraft financing and would increase domestic and international flights from four US hubs.
The fresh money includes $1 billion in cash from the advance sale of frequent flyer miles to Citigroup Inc and $1.6 billion in jet-financing commitments from GE Capital Aviation Services, the company said in a statement.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 7.79 points, or 0.08%, to 9,783.92. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 Index shed 3.27 points, or 0.31%, to 1,065.49. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 6.4 points, or 0.3%, to 2,126.75.
The US currency was little-changed at 67.8 euro cents from 67.9 euro cents on Wednesday. The dollar gained against the Japanese currency to 91.06 yen from 90.84 yen.
