Dow crosses 22,000 mark for first time

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Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Dow crosses 22,000 mark for first time
Dow crosses 22,000 mark for first time

NEW YORK, New York -- A big gain from Apple Wednesday morning sent the Dow Jones industrial average above 22,000 for the first time. Most other industries were trading lower, with health care and household goods companies slipping. Movie theater companies plunged after AMC Entertainment gave a weak forecast and said it will cut costs.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow, which tracks 30 big-name U.S. companies, climbed 29 points, or 0.1 percent, to 21,992 as of 10:42 a.m. Eastern time. It traded above 22,000 points earlier.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index, a much broader market measure used by most professional investors, fell 6 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,469. The Nasdaq composite lost 27 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,336. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks shed 15 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,412.

Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

APPLE GETS AN 'A': Apple's fiscal third-quarter profit and sales were better than experts had anticipated. The company is forecasting $49 billion to $52 billion in revenue for the current quarter, which ends in September. That was also above estimates, and it's better than last year, when the iPhone 7 was released. Some experts feared that delays for the next iPhone model would cause Apple would forecast far lower sales. The stock climbed $8.35, or 5.6 percent, to $158.40.

ILLUMINA LIGHTS UP: Genetic tools company Illumina raised its projections for the rest of the year after solid results in the most recent quarter. The company said demand for its NovaSeq genetic sequencing system was better than expected, and its stock gained $21.65, or 12.6 percent, to $193.95.

HORROR FILM: Movie theater operators plunged after AMC Entertainment said U.S. box office receipts dropped 4.4 percent in the second quarter, and it expects the third quarter to be difficult as well. AMC it also taking a charge of more than $170 million because its investment in another chain, National CineMedia, lost value. The company is also planning to slash costs by making changes including discounts, cuts in operating hours and staff levels, and new pricing plans.

AMC dropped $4.95, or 23.8 percent, to $15.85. Regal Entertainment sank 80 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $18.29 and Cinemark Holdings lost $2.09, or 5.3 percent, to $37.67.

OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude added 6 cents to $49.22 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 13 cents to $51.91 a barrel in London.

BONDS: Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note remained at 2.25 percent.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 110.60 yen from 110.30 yen. The euro edged up to $1.1828 from $1.1801.

OVERSEAS: Germany's DAX was unchanged, as was the CAC 40 of France. Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 percent and South Korea's Kospi gained 0.2 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 0.2 percent.

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