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BUSINESS Thursday 22 November 2018
A25

Stocks move higher on Wall Street after 2 days of big losses

By MARLEY JAY broke out of a slump and
Associated Press prices also rose. Foot Lock-
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks in er added that it expects
the U.S. are higher Wednes- strong sales over the holi-
day after two days of days.
steep losses, and major That contributed to a re-
European indexes are also bound for retailers after
recovering. Major technol- they dropped on Tuesday.
ogy companies including Home improvement com-
Apple and Microsoft are pany Lowe's gained 2.6
up after tumbling in the last percent to $88.44 and Nike
few days. Crude oil prices rose 1.9 percent to $72.50.
are up about 4 percent af- Elsewhere, design software
ter they sank to a one-year maker Autodesk climbed
low a day earlier. 8.6 percent to $133.68 after
KEEPING SCORE: The S&P a strong quarterly report.
500 index gained 25 points, The company also said it
or 1 percent, to 2,667 as is buying construction soft-
of 11:53 a.m. Eastern time. ware company PlanGrid
It's down 2.5 percent so far for $875 million.
this week. The Dow Jones ENERGY: Oil prices re-
Industrial Average rose 143 bounded Wednesday as
points, or 0.6 percent, to benchmark U.S. crude
24,608. The Nasdaq com- In this Friday, Nov. 9, 2018, file photo trader Michael Urkonis. left, works with specialists John Mc- gained 3.8 percent to
posite added 106 points, or Nierney, center, and Douglas Johnson on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. $55.48 a barrel in New York.
Associated Press
1.5 percent, to 7,015. The It fell 6.6 percent on Tues-
Russell 2000 index of small- ered a sliver of their recent tember. Their combined billion. day. Brent crude, the inter-
er-company stocks picked losses. Amazon rose 2.7 per- loss of almost $500 billion is IF THE SHOE FITS: Retailer national standard traded in
up 28 points, or 2 percent, cent to $1,536 and Face- greater than the value of Foot Locker jumped 16.2 London, advanced 1 per-
to 1,497. book jumped 3.5 percent almost every other stock on percent to $53.56 after its cent to $63.16 a barrel.
Trading was light. U.S. mar- to $137.05. Apple climbed the S&P 500. third-quarter profit and Exxon Mobil jumped 1.3
kets will be closed Thursday 0.8 percent to $178.32. Aside from Apple and revenue surpassed Wall percent to $77.98 and
for the Thanksgiving holi- Apple's market value has Amazon, only Microsoft, Street's expectations. Chevron rose 1.9 percent
day, and will be open for a dropped by almost $260 Google's parent company The company said sales to $118.25.q
half-day on Friday. billion since early October Alphabet, and Warren Buf-
TECH TURNAROUND: Tech- and Amazon has fallen by fett's Berkshire Hathaway
nology companies recov- $240 billion since early Sep- are worth more than $500

US home sales rise 1.4 percent, snap

6-month losing streak

By PAUL WISEMAN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S.
home sales rose in Octo-
ber, breaking a six-month
losing streak. But sales are
still down from a year ago,
hurt by rising interest rates.
The National Association
of Realtors said Wednes-
day that sales of existing
homes climbed 1.4 per-
cent to a seasonally ad-
justed annual rate of 5.22
million last month from 5.15 In this Aug. 30, 2018, file photo sold placards top sale signs out-
million in September. But side homes on the market in Denver.
the October sales were still Associated Press
down 5.1 percent from a ed Wednesday that the suggested that "maybe
year earlier, the largest an- rate on 30-year, fixed-rate the federal reserve can
nual drop since July 2014. mortgages was 4.81 per- take a little pause in their
"No way is the housing cent, up from 3.92 percent interest rate hikes."
market on solid ground at a year ago.The Federal Re- The median U.S. house
the moment," says Law- serve has raised short-term price rose 3.8 percent from
rence Yun, the associa- rates three times this year a year ago to $255,400.
tion's chief economist.He and is expected to raise The inventory of homes for
blamed a sharp increase them again in December sale was 1.85 million, down
in mortgage rates over and three times next year. from September but up 2.8
the past year. Mortgage Given sluggishness in the percent from a year
giant Freddie Mac report- U.S. housing market, Yun ago. q