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U.S. consumer sentiment drops to six-month low in May
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News Corp beats quarterly profit estimates
(Updates to close)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK May 12 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended lower on
Friday, led by weaker big technology-related shares following
their recent rally, as data showed U.S. consumer sentiment
dropped to a six-month low.
Tesla Inc shares fell after jumping more than 2% on
Thursday, when Elon Musk announced he had found a new chief
executive for Twitter.
Musk tweeted Friday he had picked former NBCUniversal
advertising chief Linda Yaccarino as Twitter's new CEO.
The S&P 500 technology sector was lower, with
shares of Apple Inc among the biggest drags. The
technology index is still up about 22% so far this year.
"They've had an incredible run, so those valuation concerns
are starting to manifest themselves," said Peter Tuz, president
of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Adding to investor worries, May consumer sentiment dropped
to its lowest since November as a standoff to raise the federal
government's borrowing cap fanned worries about the economic
outlook.
Investors are concerned that the Federal Reserve's
aggressive interest rates hikes could push the economy into
recession.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 6.48
points, or 0.16%, to end at 4,124.14 points, while the Nasdaq
Composite lost 43.76 points, or 0.35%, to 12,284.74. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8.86 points, or 0.03%,
to 33,300.65.
The Congressional Budget Office said on Friday the U.S.
faces a "significant risk" of defaulting on payment obligations
within the first two weeks of June without a debt ceiling
increase.
Among gainers, First Solar Inc shares jumped after
the solar panel maker acquired Sweden's thin-film solar cell
technology firm Evolar AB.
News Corp shares rallied after the media
conglomerate beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter
profit.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevithc; additional reporting by
Shreyashi Sanyal and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by
Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Arun Koyyur, Anil D'Silva and Richard
Chang)
