S&P 500 Falls Amid Housing Data as Apple Tumbles

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) declined a fourth straight day amid disappointing results at Apple (AAPL) Inc. and an unexpected decline in new home sales.

A gauge of homebuilders in S&P indexes slid 1.7 percent. Apple sank 4.7 percent as iPhone sales missed forecasts. Netflix Inc. (NFLX), the largest video-subscription service, tumbled 23 percent after raising doubts on user growth. Caterpillar Inc., the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment, and Boeing (BA) Co., a planemaker, gained at least 2 percent.

The S&P 500 slid 0.3 percent to 1,335.03 at 11:28 a.m. New York time. The benchmark gauge has lost 3 percent in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 44.69 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,662.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.5 percent to 2,850.13. Trading in S&P 500 companies was up 20 percent from the 30-day average at this time of day.

“There’s a huge amount of uncertainty out there,” said Rob McIver, co-portfolio manager at Jensen Investment Management in Lake Oswego, Oregon. His firm manages $5.5 billion. “It’s a somewhat anemic U.S. recovery. You have the eurozone blowing up again. And you see that starting to be reflected in corporate results. It’s certainly a difficult environment for investors.”

The S&P 500 erased earlier gains as data showed demand for new U.S. homes unexpectedly dropped in June from a two-year high, indicating the housing recovery will be uneven. Earnings at 71 percent of the 196 S&P 500 companies which reported second-quarter results have beaten analysts’ estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

By Rita Nazareth
Read More: Bloomberg