Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Thursday 26 april 2018
A25

Stocks close mixed; Dow industrials end a losing streak

By MARLEY JAY Stocks got off to a weak to worry that the market’s
AP Markets Writer start as investors worried best days are behind it. She
NEW YORK (AP) — A late that growing costs for raw noted that wages are ris-
round of buying erased materials along with rising ing, as unemployment has
early losses on Wall Street, interest rates would hold been at multi-decade lows
leaving major indexes back profit growth for U.S. for the last few years. That
mixed at the close of trad- companies. Defense con- means costs for companies
ing. Bigger companies tractors stumbled follow- are up. Oil prices have also
managed to eke out mod- ing first-quarter reports from jumped and investors are
est gains, while smaller Northrop Grumman and worried that new tariffs will
companies mostly fell. General Dynamics. also drive up costs and af-
A big gain in Boeing pushed U.S. bond yields rose again fect company earnings in
the Dow Jones industrial and set four-year highs the months to come.
average higher, breaking a while oil prices, already at “I wouldn’t be surprised if
five-day losing streak. Late three-year highs, contin- earnings peaked by the
in the day, energy compa- ued to move higher. end of this year, but cer- Trader Gregory Rowe works on the floor of the New York Stock
nies got a boost after Exx- Invesco Chief Global Mar- tainly they haven’t peaked Exchange, Wednesday, April 25, 2018.
on Mobil said it is raising its ket Strategist Kristina Hoop- yet,” she said. Associated Press
quarterly dividend. er said investors are starting The S&P 500 index added 4.84 points, or 0.2 percent, corporate tax cut President
to 2,639.40. The Dow rose Donald Trump signed at
ConocoPhillips wins $2 billion 59.70 points, or 0.2 per- the end of 2017. That op-
timism helped send stocks
cent, at 24,083.83. The los-
arbitration against Venezuela ing streak was its longest in to record highs in January.
Now investors are worrying
more than a year.
The Nasdaq composite about whether that growth
dipped 3.61 points, or 0.1 will show up.
CARACAS, Venezuela investors from lending mon- tional law when it national- percent, to 7,003.74. The Aerospace company Boe-
(AP) — ConocoPhillips said ey to the government. ized Conoco’s stakes in the Russell 2000 index of small- ing topped Wall Street’s
Wednesday that it won a ConocoPhillips is pursu- two fields. Proceedings are er-company stocks lost 2.81 estimates in the first quarter
$2 billion arbitration award ing separate legal action underway to determine the points, or 0.2 percent, to and raised its forecasts for
against Venezuela’s state against Venezuela’s gov- amount of compensation. 1,550.47. Most stocks on the the year. Its stock gained
oil company, compound- ernment under the aus- Venezuela still faces 22 ar- New York Stock Exchange 4.2 percent to $342.86
ing the financial woes of pices of the World Bank’s bitration cases at the World fell. and railroad operator Nor-
the socialist-run nation as it investment dispute mecha- Bank, more than any other Investors expected strong folk Southern climbed 8.1
struggles to feed its popu- nism. The World Bank tribu- country in the world, with profit growth this year percent to $145.96 after
lation. The award repre- nal has already ruled that potential losses stretching thanks to the growing it, too, surpassed analyst
sents the equivalent of Venezuela broke interna- into the billions.q global economy and the projections.q
more than 20 percent of
the cash-strapped govern-
ment’s foreign currency re-
serves. The Houston-based
company said in a state-
ment that the ruling against
PDVSA by an International
Chamber of Commerce
panel was final and bind-
ing. “ConocoPhillips will
pursue enforcement and
seek financial recovery of
its award to the full extent
of the law,” the company
said in a statement.
But collecting the judg-
ment won’t be easy, as
President Nicolas Maduro
is holding on to the few
dollars trickling into the
country from plummeting
oil production and amid
sanctions by the Trump
administration barring U.S