Stocks Opened Lower, Weighed by Tech

U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday as technology stocks took a beating from Apple’s decline and weakness in chipmakers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 109.93 points, or 0.44%, to 24,638.14. The S&P 500 was dwon 14.59 points, or 0.54%, to 2,694.05. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 44.62 points, or 0.61%, to 7,250.62.

Procter & Gamble Co (PG) narrowly beat quarterly earnings expectations on Thursday, saying shrinking retailer inventories and higher commodities and transportation costs squeezed margins. Excluding items, the company earned $1 per share, beating analysts’ average estimate by 2 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Blackstone Group LP said on Thursday first-quarter earnings per share fell 20 percent year-on-year, as a stock market slump weighed on the value of its holdings. It plans to pay a 30 cent special dividend in 2018, returning to shareholders a portion of the proceeds from the conclusion of its partnership with FS Investment Corp. The firm increased its share buy-back authorization to $1 billion from $335.8 million.