Wall St: Tuesday mid-session
STOCKS fell in heavy trade as investors returning after the long weekend gave the thumbs-down to reports of strong profits from
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 64.88 points, or 0.61% at 10,535.63 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 2.90 points, or 0.14% at 2,137.56. The market was closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Citigroup said its fourth-quarter profit nearly doubled amid strong growth in its credit-card operations and a profit from its in-house investments. Shares of the nation's largest bank fell 38 cents to $49.12 after the company said net income nearly doubled to $4.76bn, or 91 cents per share, rising from $2.43bn in the year-ago period.
Johnson & Johnson was the Dow's biggest gainer, up $1.20, or 2.4% at $51.65. The health-care company said its fourth-quarter profit jumped 33%, beating Wall Street estimates, on strong sales of its prescription drugs and a fast-selling device used in heart operations.
The company earned $1.85bn, or 62 cents per share in the quarter, compared with $1.38bn, or 46 cents per share last time. Sales rose 19.7% to $11.3bn.
Shares of 3M were tugged downward despite strong fourth-quarter results and after investors sent the firm's shares to the highest level ever in earlier trading.
The maker of adhesives and household and industrial products said fourth-quarter net income was $619m, or 77 cents per share, up 21% from $511m, or 65 cents a share, in the year ago period.
Honeywell fell $2.21 or 5.9%, to $35.22 after sinking as low as $34.88 earlier in the session. On Monday a deal that would have shielded the diversified manufacturer from asbestos liabilities at its brakes manufacturing unit, Bendix, fell apart.
