The Dow moved further above 17,000 in early trade today, while the Nasdaq fell as Facebook shares tumbled more than six per cent on the social network’s heavy spending plan.
About 40 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,043.28, up 37.53 points (0.22 per cent), after yesterday’s closing above 17,000 for the first time in more than three weeks.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.75 (0.14 per cent) to 1,987.80, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 16.11 (0.35 per cent) to 4,548.19.
Nasdaq member Facebook fell 6.3 per cent after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg pledged to keep “investing aggressively” in growth, a statement that raised concerns about excessive spending. The company’s third-quarter net income soared to USD 806 million from USD 425 million last year .
The market awaited the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee statement, after a two-day monetary policy meeting, due around 1800 GMT. The FOMC is expected to declare the end of a six-year-old quantitative easing program, which last December stood at USD 85 million a month in asset purchases and has been progressively trimmed.
Investors are watching to see if the Fed gives any fresh signals on interest rates. The central bank has repeatedly said that the first rate increase in its federal funds rate would come “a considerable time” after quantitative easing ends.
Goodyear jumped 5.9 per cent after the tire maker reported third-quarter earnings of 87 cents per share, 17 cents above analyst estimates.
Biotechnology company Gilead Sciences dropped 2.1 per cent as its USD 2.8 billion in third-quarter sales of its Sovaldi hepatitis C treatment fell short of a USD 3.05 billion analyst forecast.
Chocolate maker Hershey dropped 3.0 per cent as it lowered its profit forecast, citing macroeconomic weakness and the effect of the strong dollar. The company now projects 2014 adjusted earnings per share growth of around eight percent, down from the nine-11 per cent previously forecast.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.31 per cent from 2.28 per cent yesterday, while the 30-year increased to 3.08 per cent from 3.06 per cent. Bond yields and prices move inversely.