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Wall Street is down after home sales report

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-24 00:09

Despite the declines of more than 2 percent in the major indexes this week, stocks are off their mid-March lows. The Dow is still up 7.5 percent from its close of 11,740.15 on March 10.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its yield, fell to 3.86 percent from 3.92 percent late Thursday.

The dollar was mostly higher against other major currencies, and gold was also higher.

In corporate news, Gap Inc. reported late Thursday that first-quarter profit surpassed Wall Street projections. The retailer said it boosted profit by 40 percent by better managing inventory and cutting costs. Gap fell 50 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $17.79.

There was also deal talk going into the holiday weekend. Halliburton Co., the world's second-largest oilfield services company, made a $3.4 billion bid to acquire British rival Expro International Group. Halliburton fell 65 cents to $47.63.

Yahoo Inc. late Thursday said in regulatory filing that it pushed its annual shareholders meeting to an undetermined date in late July. The move was seen giving the Internet portal more time to prepare a defense — or negotiate a sale to Microsoft Corp. Yahoo fell 22 cents to $27.31, while Microsoft fell 41 cents to $28.06.

American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. fell 68 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $18.57 after the company said late Thursday that workers approved a new contract including pay cuts and other concessions. The vote ends a strike that lasted nearly three months, hurting General Motors Corp.'s production of large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. Although the contract's ratification will benefit GM, auto stocks have been under pressure this week because of soaring fuel prices.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks small-company stocks, fell 12.764, or 1.72 percent, to 720.37.

Declining issues outran advancers by about 4 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to nearly 349 million shares.

In overseas trade, Tokyo's Nikkei closed rose 0.24 percent. In Europe, London's FTSE dropped 0.47 percent, Frankfurt's DAX fell 0.82 percent and Paris' CAC 40 shed 0.98 percent.

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