By Saumya Vaishampayan And Dan Strumpf
U.S. stocks slipped Thursday, pausing after two sessions of
gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34 points, or 0.2%, to
18079, while the S&P 500 eased five points, or 0.2%, to 2102.
The Nasdaq Composite Index fell three points, or 0.1%, to 5008.
A series of positive earnings reports, particularly from the
financial sector, kept a floor under shares.
Citigroup Inc. said its first-quarter profit jumped a
bigger-than-expected 21%. Shares rose 1.5% premarket.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said its first-quarter profit and
revenue rose, with results beating analysts' expectations. Still,
shares fell 0.7%.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. lifted its full-year guidance due to a
stronger-than-expected 13% increase in first-quarter revenue.
Shares rose 3.3%.
Netflix Inc. said Wednesday it added 4.88 million subscribers in
the March quarter, which topped Netflix's own forecast for 4.05
million additions. Shares soared 13%.
Stocks have advanced this month, nearing all-time highs. The Dow
and S&P have both gained 1.9% so far in April and are
approaching records last seen in early March. The Dow is now 1%
away from its record of 18288.63, while the S&P is 0.5% below
its record of 2117.39.
Crude-oil futures fell 1.2% to $55.71 a barrel Thursday, pulling
back after five straight sessions of gains.
Stocks rose Wednesday, pushing the Nasdaq Composite closer to
its all-time high. The Nasdaq gained 0.7% to 5011.02, ending just
0.7% shy of its 15-year-old record of 5048.62. The Dow rose 0.4% to
18112.61 and the S&P added 0.5% to 2106.63.
In economic news, U.S. housing starts rose 2% in March from a
month earlier to an annual rate of 926,000, the Commerce Department
said. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected
an annual rate of 1.04 million.
Jobless claims rose 12,000 to 294,000 in the week ended April
11, the Labor Department said. Economists had expected 280,000
claims.
European stocks fell, with Germany's DAX declining 1.4% and
France's CAC 40 slipping 0.4%. German government bonds hit record
highs.
In other markets, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to
1.879% from 1.900% on Wednesday. Yields fall as prices rise.
Gold futures added 0.4% to $1205.60 an ounce.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com and
Dan Strumpf at daniel.strumpf@wsj.com
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