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BUSINESSWednesday 16 March 2016

Wall Street closes mixed, lower, amid drug company rout

Kevin Lodewick, center, works with fellow traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and fairly calm this week as and Exchange commission
Tuesday, March 15, 2016. U.S. stocks tumbled in the first minutes of trading as falling commodity investors wait for the Fed- and Congress is question-
prices again pulled energy and materials companies lower. eral Reserve’s Open Mar- ing its practice of acquiring
kets Committee remarks older drugs and raising their
(AP Photo/Richard Drew) on interest rates and the prices, a strategy shared
economy on Wednesday. by other drugmakers.
MARLEY JAY companies fell along with said James Paulsen, chief Investors are also awaiting Endo International lost
AP Markets Writer the price of precious met- investment strategist for Wednesdays’ Consumer $9.51, or 22.6 percent, to
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks als. Wells Capital Manage- Price Index report, which $32.5 and Mallinckrodt fell
ended mixed and most- U.S. stocks have hardly ment. “It’s kind of amazing Paulsen believes will reveal $10.10, or 14.5 percent, to
ly lower Tuesday, led by moved over the last two we haven’t pulled back a more than the Fed’s state- $59.51.
a steep decline in drug days, following a four-week little more.” ment. Drugmaker Eli Lilly fell on
company shares as inves- rally that erased some big The Dow Jones industrial “We ought to be paying concerns surrounding the
tors worried it will become losses from earlier this year. average added 22.40 attention to the Fed’s boss, potential approval of a
harder for the companies “People are kind of re- points, or 0.1 percent, to the economy,” he said. “If drug designed to treat de-
to raise prices. Materials evaluating where we are,” 17,251.53. The Standard & the economic data gets mentia caused by Alzheim-
Poor’s 500 index lost 3.71 better, the Fed will raise er’s disease. The company
points, or 0.2 percent, to rates. If it doesn’t get bet- said Tuesday it is changing
2,015.93. The Nasdaq com- ter, they won’t.” the goal of a late-stage
posite index slipped 21.61 Drug company stocks were trial, and investors worried
points, or 0.5 percent, to not afforded any of the the change makes it less
4,728.67. market’s tranquility Tues- likely regulators will ap-
Trading has been mixed day. prove the drug. The stock
They were pummeled af- gave up $2.67, or 3.6 per-
ter Valeant Pharmaceuti- cent, to $71.24.
cals, which is already fac- Tech stocks made the big-
ing scrutiny over its busi- gest gains Tuesday, led by
ness practices, said its strat- Apple, which rose $2.06, or
egy of boosting product 2 percent, to $104.58 after
prices is no longer viable. a Morgan Stanley analyst
Every drug company in the said first-quarter iPhone
S&P 500 fell, and big drug sales look stronger than
makers Pfizer and Merck Wall Street had expected.
led decliners on the Dow. Mining companies fell with
Valeant tumbled $35.53, or metals prices. The price of
51.5 percent, to $33.51 af- gold fell $14.10, or 1.1 per-
ter it disclosed disappoint- cent, to $1,231 an ounce.
ing fourth-quarter results, Silver sank 26 cents, or
cut its forecasts for 2016 1.7 percent, to $15.26 an
and said it could default on ounce. Copper slipped
its debt. Valeant is being in- less than 1 cent to $2.23 a
vestigated by the Securities pound. q

Lord & Taylor:

Deceptive Instagram post charges settled

NEW YORK (AP) — Lord & website article to promote chain gave 50 popular
Taylor will settle U.S. charg- a new clothing line without trendsetters on Instagram
es that it deceived cus- disclosing that they were a free dress and paid them
tomers when it paid for In- advertisements. as much as $4,000 to post
stagram posts and also a The department store a picture of them wearing
it, the Federal Trade Com-
mission said Tuesday. The
posts reached more than
11 million Instagram users
and the dress sold out, ac-
cording to the FTC.
Lord & Taylor also paid the
pop-culture magazine Ny-
lon to post an article online
about the new line.
“Consumers have the right
to know when they’re look-
ing at paid advertising,”
said FTC’s director of con-
sumer protection bureau,
Jessica Rich. Lord & Taylor
said it never tried to de-
ceive customers and that
it corrected the posts and
article when the FTC raised
the issue a year ago.q