Global stock markets fell yesterday as tobacco shares dropped and Amazon earnings disappointed, while oil prices added to recent gains and were on track for their biggest weekly percentage rise this year.
The US Food and Drug Administration said it aims to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes while exploring measures to shift smokers towards e-cigarettes.
Altria Group shares fell 9.5 per cent and were the biggest drag on the S&P 500, followed by Amazon. Shares of British American Tobacco were down 6.8 per cent and British peer Imperial Brands were down 3.8 per cent.
Amazon’s stock fell 2.6 per cent after it reported results late Thursday. Amazon is one of the “FANG” group of companies, along with Facebook, Netflix and Google, that have supported US stocks’ gains this year.
Tech shares, which fell on Thursday, were down 0.1 per cent.
“Investors are still feeling some weakness in the tech sector and that’s weighing on the broader market,” said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 15.9 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 21,780.65, the S&P 500 had lost 7.67 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 2,467.75 and the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 19.77 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 6,362.42.
MSCI’s 47-country All World share index was down 0.3 per cent, while the European STOXX 600 index was down 1.2 per cent.
Oil prices have been lifted this week as key Opec members pledged to reduce exports and the US government reported a sharp decline in crude inventories.
Brent crude futures were at $52.42 per barrel, up 93 cents, while US crude futures were up 67 cents at $49.70.
US crude was up 8.4 per cent for the week so far, which would be its best this year.
The US dollar was broadly lower as a combination of underwhelming US economic data and political uncertainty kept traders biased toward the euro and other world currencies.
The euro moved higher against the dollar and was last up 0.5 per cent at $1.1740.
US gross domestic product growth picked up to 2.6 per cent in the second quarter, matching expectations of economists polled by Reuters, while growth in the first quarter was revised down to 1.2 per cent.