Slump for Tech Stocks Overshadows Gains by Telecoms, Banks

NEW YORK (AP) —

Stock indexes didn’t do much at first glance on Monday, but the modest move for the Standard & Poor’s 500 masked some dramatic changes roiling underneath the surface.

Telecom stocks, banks and other areas of the market that stand to benefit the most from Washington’s drive to cut corporate tax rates jumped. At the same time, technology stocks slumped and gave up a chunk of the gains that have made them the best-performing part of the market by far this year.

The New York Stock Exchange was nearly evenly split between stocks that rose and fell, and the split in performance left the S&P 500 close to where it began the day. It dipped 2.78 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,639.44.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 58.46, or 0.2 percent, to 24,290.05, and the Nasdaq composite fell 72.22, or 1.1 percent, to 6,775.37.

The cross-currents swept through the market on the first day of trading after the Senate approved its proposal to revamp the tax system. Indexes initially jumped on expectations lower tax rates would help corporate profits pile up even higher. The S&P 500 was up as much as 0.9 percent in morning trading.

Lower tax rates would help boost profits for companies, which already have been reporting resurgent earnings growth this year thanks to the improving global economy. If profits do accelerate, it would help allay worries that the stock market, which is still close to record highs, has climbed too far, too quickly.

Telecommunications companies pay some of the highest effective tax rates among the big companies in the S&P 500, so they stand to reap some of the biggest rewards of lower tax rates. Telecom stocks in the index jumped 1.6 percent, tied for the biggest gain of the 11 sectors in the index.

Financial stocks, which analysts also expect to be winners from the tax overhaul, likewise climbed 1.6 percent.

Technology companies, meanwhile, will likely get less of a boost. They already were typically paying the lowest effective tax rates of the 11 sectors in the S&P 500, analysts said.

Tech stocks in the index dropped 1.9 percent, lagging far behind the rest of the market. It’s a very different position for the sector, which has nearly doubled the performance of the S&P 500 this year. The strong gains earlier in the year led some skeptics to say that tech stocks had become overly pricey.

In Europe, stock markets rallied as negotiations continued for the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. France’s CAC 40 jumped 1.4 percent, and Germany’s DAX surged 1.5 percent. The FTSE 100 in London rose 0.5 percent.

Asian markets were mixed. South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.1 percent, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.2 percent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.37 percent.

The dollar rose to 112.60 Japanese yen from 112.05 yen late Friday. The euro fell to $1.1855 from $1.1893, and the British pound rose to $1.3471 from $1.3468.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 89 cents to settle at $57.47 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell $1.28 to $62.45 a barrel in London.

Natural gas lost 8 cents to $2.99 per 1,000 cubic feet, heating oil lost 5 cents to $1.89 per gallon and wholesale gasoline dropped 5 cents to $1.69 per gallon.

Gold dipped $4.60 to settle at $1,277.70 per ounce, silver lost 2 cents to $16.37 and copper was close to flat at $3.09 per pound.

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