Hewlett-Packard and Bank of America were under pressure given weak earnings and news of continued layoffs, respectively.
U.S. equities opened in the red and were off their lows in early trading in New York, and trying to break into positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Index was in the red, down 0.3% to 10,958 by 10:08 a.m. The S&P 500 slid 0.1% to 1,139 while the Nasdaq turned positive and was trading up 0.3% to 2,388.
After a disastrous Thursday session that saw the Dow fall more than 500 points at one point, growth concerns fueled continued risk aversion. Shares across Asia fell hard, as did those in Europe.
Gold hit a fresh nominal all-time high of $1,877 per ounce early in the U.S. The shiny metal recently had retreated to $1,854.60. Yields on benchmark 10-year Treasuries dipped below 2% on Thursday, but found support and jumped to 2.097% during early trading Friday.
Hewlett-Packard was the session’s biggest loser, down 22.2% or $6.55 to $22.96. After announcing it was spinning off its PC business, HP released earnings that deeply disappointed investors, sending the stock into a free fall. The company run by Leo Apotheker cut its guidance and announced it was set to acquire software maker Autonomy for $11 billion.
Bank of America was another stock under pressure after CEO Brian Moynihan reportedly told managers they were expecting to cut 3,500 jobs this quarter. Shares in BoA opened in the red on Friday and bounced off the day’s lows, but remained in negative territory. BofA was trading down 0.9% or 6 cents to $6.95.