US stocks slip, and an early gain in European markets fades – Los Angeles Times

U.S. stocks are moving lower in late-morning trading Thursday as investors look over a mixed bag of corporate earnings reports. Bond prices fell, sending yields higher. In Europe, stocks gave back an early gain driven by a rate cut and other stimulus measures announced by the European Central Bank.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 107 points, or 0.6%, to 16,893 as of 11:26 a.m. Eastern time. Earlier in the morning, it was up as much as 130 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 11 points, or 0.6%, to 1,977. The Nasdaq composite declined 36 points, or 0.8%, to 4,637.

EUROPE: Germany’s DAX lost 1.4%, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.6% and Britain’s FTSE 100 gave up 1%.

The European Central Bank surprised financial markets by cutting the main refinancing rate to zero from 0.05%. It also reduced the interest rate on commercial bank deposits held at the central bank to negative 0.4% from negative 0.3%. It also expanded its monthly bond-buying program to 80 billion euros ($ 85 billion) a month from 60 billion euros.

 "The central bank came out all guns blazing," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA. "The decision to ease monetary policy across a broad range of tools sent a strong message to the markets that it is not willing to sit by while they repeatedly fall well short of their 2% inflation target."

GUIDING LOWER: Several companies fell after issuing forecasts or results that were weaker than analysts were expecting. Canadian Solar’s U.S.-listed shares fell $ 2.49, or 11%, to $ 19.27, and Vail Resorts lost $ 4.72, or 4%, to $ 128.19.

RETAIL WIN: Dollar General rose $ 5.45, or 7%, to $ 80.66 after the company reported that its fourth-quarter profit rose almost 6%, topping Wall Street expectations, as customer traffic and transaction amounts increased.

BOOM BOX: Cloud storage company Box Inc. rose 34 cents, or 2.7%, to $ 12.86 after reporting results that beat estimates.

ASIA’S DAY: Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.3%. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 edged down 0.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.1% and South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.8%.

ENERGY: U.S. crude shed 76 cents, or 2%, to $ 37.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped 4.9% on Wednesday. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, sank 98 cents, or 2.4%, to $ 40.09 a barrel.

BONDS: U.S government bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.94%. In currency trading, the euro rose to $ 1.1138 from $ 1.0996 late Wednesday, and the dollar rose to 113.49 yen from 113.40 yen.