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VOL. 40 | NO. 8 | Friday, February 19, 2016
US stocks are little changed in early trading
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were little changed in morning trading Thursday as investors continued to watch the price of oil, which was moving lower. Salesforce.com jumped after the company reported strong fourth-quarter results and raised its full-year forecast.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average edged up six points to 16,492 as of 10:16 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was flat at 1,930 and the Nasdaq composite fell 19 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,522.
OIL: The price of crude oil and the stock market have been closely correlated in recent weeks. Investors have been concerned that weaker energy prices are a signs of sluggishness in the global economy.
"Oil and the stock market are going to keep moving in tandem like this until oil prices stabilize," said Jeremy Zirin, chief equity strategist at UBS Wealth Management.
The benchmark New York rate was down 45 cents at $31.71 a barrel while Brent crude, used to price oils internationally, was down 37 cents at $34.05 a barrel.
BUY, BUY, BUY: Salesforce.com jumped $5.70, or 9 percent, to $68.20 after the company issued an upbeat outlook for the year. Investors had been worried about the results of Salesforce after a competitor, Tableau, earlier this month issued a dismal outlook that caused its shares to drop nearly 50 percent, dragging down its competitors.
IGNORING CHINA: Both U.S. and European markets are holding their own compared to the drop in Chinese stocks overnight. The Shanghai composite fell 6.4 percent on renewed concerns about the country's manufacturing sector and market liquidity.
BONDS, CURRENCIES: U.S. government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.72 percent from 1.75 percent late Wednesday. In currency trading, with the euro was roughly unchanged at $1.1017 and the dollar climbed to 112.67.