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US midday: Dow falls back
Thu, 28 Aug, 2008
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US midday: Dow falls back
Wed, 23 Jul 2008, 17:34:00
US stocks reversed their initial gains to trade flat by midday as oil prices came off earlier lows Wednesday.<br /><br />Crude currently costs around $127 a barrel as Hurricane Dolly looks on course to miss the key oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico.<br /> <br />Crude-oil inventories for the week ended 18 July fell by 1.6m barrels to 295.3m barrels, according to the Energy Department's weekly report.<br /><br />Across the markets, the Dow Jones is flat at 11,602 with the Nasdaq rising 8 points to 2312. The S&P 500 is up 4 points.<br /><br />A strong performance in Europe and the sale of its minority interest in UK sandwich chain Pret A Manger helped fast food chain McDonald's break into profit during the second quarter. Net income for the three months to 30 June was $1.19bn, versus a loss of $711.7m.<br /><br />Second quarter earnings include a 10 cents per share gain from the sale of the 33% stake in Pret for £345m ($673m at the time) earlier this year. Global comparable sales increased 6.1% and by 3.4% in the US where operating income increased 6%. But business boomed across Europe, with sales up 7.4% and operating income up 29%.<br /><br />Costco Wholesale said Wednesday fourth-quarter and full-year profit will miss Wall Street expectations. Earnings per share in the three month to 31 August are expected to be 'well below' the current consensus estimate of $1.00 per share. Costco said that full-year profits in its gasoline operations will fall, while merchandise profits will be lower. The company will also take a higher than expected inventories charge.<br /><br />In other results, household appliances maker Whirlpool posted a 27% drop in second quarter profits, while Boeing reported second-quarter earnings that fell 19%. <br /><br />Late Tuesday, thrift bank Washington Mutual also revealed a $3.3bn quarterly loss, far worse than expected and reflecting an $3.7bn increase in its bad debt charge. <br /><br />Also after the close, Yahoo said it missed second quarter forecasts. Yahoo! saw quarterly net income fall 18% to $131m, or 9c per share, from $161m a year ago.<br />
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