Stocks moved lower Wednesday, as disappointing quarterly results from Boeing and a lackluster forecast from Amazon.com helped keep the market off balance.
The Dow Jones industrial average, which was up more than 56 points early in the session, ended the day down 32.89, at 10,344.98.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 5.16, to close at 1191.38. And the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index slid 9.40, to 2100.05.
Treasury securities sold down for a third straight day, with the benchmark 10-year bond dropping 14/32 to yield 4.59 percent.
The blue chips came under pressure when Boeing’s third-quarter results fell short of expectations. Shares of the Chicago-based aerospace giant declined nearly 3 percent, to $65.10.
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On the Nasdaq, Amazon.com shares plunged 14 percent, to $39.75, after the Seattle-based company late Tuesday offered a weak holiday profit projection.
Offshore boost: U.S. pension plans, foundations and endowments posted “solid” third-quarter gains with the help of substantially higher international equity markets and a modest improvement in domestic stocks, according to data compiled by Northern Trust.
The Chicago bank’s Northern Trust Universe measures the performance of more than 300 large institutional investment plans with combined assets of about $390 billion. Their quarterly performance provides a snapshot of how the nation’s institutional investment plans fared as a group.
The funds Northern Trust tracks invest in domestic and overseas stocks, bonds, derivatives, private-equity and other investment options. But in the latest quarter, “the equity portion of virtually all plans was the driving force behind the solid gains,” said Joe Nardulli, product manager of Northern Trust Investment Risk & Analytical Services.
Private plans, typically either defined-benefit or 401(k) corporate retirement plans, had a median third-quarter return of 4.2 percent, Northern Trust said.
Public plans, or retirement funds for municipal, county or state workers, recorded a 4.1 percent median upturn. And plans for foundations and endowments had the top performance, with a median gain of 4.4 percent.
By comparison, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 3.1 percent in the third quarter, while the Morgan Stanley International Capital EAFE index of overseas stocks returned better than 10 percent.
Santa rally: For investors wondering whether stocks will be able to pull off the year-end surge often referred to as the “Santa Claus rally” this year, David Briggs, head of global equity trading at investment manager Federated Investors, said, “Keep a close eye on consumer behavior in November.” If consumers don’t stage a pullback in spending, chances for a late-year bump in equities look good.
October is often a crummy month for stocks, noted Briggs, but the “Halloween equity dip often proves to be the relative low for the quarter, setting up a `Santa Claus’ rally as the old year winds down. … Stay put in stocks for now,” he suggested.
Local stocks: CNH Global shares tumbled 3.8 percent, to $18.48, after the Lake Forest-based farm equipment-maker’s industry rival, Agco, reported disappointing third-quarter results. Agco shares dropped nearly 11 percent to an almost three-year low.
– Shares of Archipelago Holdings, the Chicago-based electronic trading company slated to merge with the member-owned New York Stock Exchange early next year, rose 3 percent, to $46.87. Archipelago was trading below $20 before the deal with the Big Board was announced in April.
– Smurfit-Stone Container shares added 2.8 percent, to $10.19, even though the Chicago-based packaging concern reported a third-quarter loss. Smurfit’s shares were trading above $18 at the start of 2005.
– Stericycle shares, which have retreated after reaching a multiyear high of $59.74 in late summer, climbed 4.8 percent, to $57.57, after the Lake Forest-based medical-waste firm reported third-quarter results in line with forecasts.
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