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* Apple, Boeing boost Dow after results
* Starbucks slips as virus prompts store closures in China
* Dow up 0.04%, S&P 500 down 0.09%, Nasdaq up 0.06%
(Updates to market close)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended slightly
lower on Wednesday, as an initial boost from the likes of Apple,
Boeing and General Electric following their quarterly results
faded in the wake of a policy announcement from the Federal
Reserve.
Stocks initially showed little reaction to the Fed's policy
statement but steadily lost ground on the heels of a news
conference by chairman Jerome Powell. The Fed held rates steady
as expected while offering no new guidance on its balance sheet,
but Powell noted "uncertainties about the outlook remain" and
noted the coronavirus outbreak in China. Since the Fed's last rate cut in October, its third
reduction of 2019, policymakers have agreed to keep their target
policy rate in the current range of 1.50% and 1.75%.
Apple Inc AAPL.O gained 2.09% after the iPhone maker late
on Tuesday reported earnings for the holiday shopping quarter
that topped analysts' expectations, even as it braced for more
disruptions in virus-hit China. Boeing Co BA.N rose 1.72% after the planemaker forecast
nearly $19 billion in costs related to the grounding of its 737
MAX jets, smaller than what many analysts had expected, and
helping offset the company's report of its first annual loss
since 1997. Several companies have warned of disruption to their
operations due to the coronavirus outbreak, and a Chinese
government economist was quoted as saying the country's economic
growth may drop to 5% or even lower. "I don't mean to minimize the human impact of the virus but
what is more concerning to me is not that the market has not
responded to the virus but rather that it was up so strongly in
the first 2-1/2 weeks of January after a very, very strong
2019," said Ellen Hazen, portfolio manager at F.L.Putnam
Investment Management in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
"The market does seem to have gotten ahead of itself."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 11.6 points, or
0.04%, to 28,734.45, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 2.84 points, or
0.09%, to 3,273.4 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 5.48
points, or 0.06%, to 9,275.16.
As earnings gather pace, analysts expect profit for S&P 500
companies to be flat in the fourth quarter, an improvement over
the 0.6% decline estimated at the start of the season, according
to Refinitiv data.
General Electric GE.N jumped 10.32% after the industrial
conglomerate set a higher cash target for 2020. Starbucks Corp SBUX.O dropped 2.12% after warning of a
financial hit as it closed thousands of restaurants and adjusted
operating hours in China. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.01-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.62-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 46 new 52-week highs and 8 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 80 new highs and 65 new lows.
About 6.88 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges,
compared with the 7.45 billion daily average over the last 20
sessions.