After Market: Fear of Fed Action Makes Investors Skittish
Worries about interest rates rising earlier than anticipated sent Wall Street lower Thursday, but GoPro flew high on its first day of trading.
Comments by the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis rattled investors. James Bullard said he predicts rates will begin to rise by the end of the first quarter of 2015. And there was more bad news. Economists lowered their growth forecasts for the second quarter, citing weak consumer spending.
At the end of the day the Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) dropped 21 points, the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) slipped almost 1 point and the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) was lower by 2 points
But GoPro (GPRO) soared on its first day of trading. Shares of the initial public offering were priced at $24, and closed the day at $31.35. That's a gain of 30 percent from the IPO price.
Other top gainers included storage and information management firm Iron Mountain (IRM). Its shares rallied 20 percent after the IRS gave it approval to convert itself into a real-estate investment trust.
And Nabors (NBR) was also a winner up 6 percent after agreeing to sell its fracking unit for $2.8 billion to C&J Energy (CJES).
%VIRTUAL-WSSCourseInline-956%Aluminum giant Alcoa (AA) gained 2.5 percent, on news that it's buying aircraft parts maker Firth Rixson for $2.8 billion. It's been a stellar year so far for the stock -- it's up 40 percent since the beginning of 2014.
And ConAgra (CAG) known for its Slim Jim beef jerky and Hunt's tomato ketchup rose almost one percent on quarterly revenue that beat the street.
But Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) disappointed on earnings and lowered its outlook, sending the stock lower by 7 percent. 2014 has not been kind to its shareholders. The stock is down almost 30 percent year to date.
And finally, the U.S. shares of European banks got hit on news New York's Attorney General is suing Barclays for failing to warn its clients about the presence of high-frequency traders in its dark pools. Barclays (BCS) shares were down more than 7 percent, UBS (UBS) fell almost 2.5 percent and Credit Suisse (CS) was off by 3.5 percent.
-Produced by Karina Huber.
What to Watch Friday:
The University of Michigan releases its final survey of consumer sentiment for June at 9:55 a.m. Eastern time.
The following major companies are due to release quarterly financial statements:
