US stocks mixed after eurozone votes

NEW YORK: US stocks closed mixed Monday, showing little impact from the weekend votes in France and Greece which cast doubt on the path of financial reform across the troubled eurozone.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 29.74 points (0.23 per cent) to 13,008.53, pulled lower by mild falls from Caterpillar and Hewlett-Packard.

The S&P 500-stock index added 0.48 (0.04 per cent) to 1,369.58, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.42 (0.05 per cent) at 2,957.76.

Earlier all three indices had followed their European counterparts higher, trading more off positive German economic data than the prospects of more turmoil following the elections Sunday.

In both France and Greece voters on Sunday turned out the existing leadership and strongly backed parties opposed to austerity programs aimed at fixing their budget problems.

But the US markets fell back in the last hour of trade, after fresh data showed an unexpectedly strong rise in consumer borrowing in March, even as incomes have remained flat.

"Consumer credit totaled US$21.4 billion in March -- that is almost double the US$11.0 billion that had been broadly expected among economists," said Briefing.com.

Bank of America led the gainers on the blue-chip Dow, adding 2.8 per cent.Insurer AIG dropped 3.0 per cent to US$31.84 after majority owner the US Treasury said it had sold off 164 million of its shares at US$30.50.

Drugs giant Abbot Laboratories gained 0.2 per cent despite being hit with US$1.6 billion in fines to end a four-year probe into its having marketed anti-seizure medication Depakote for other unauthorized uses.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares soared 55.4 per cent after announcing some success in tests on a drug, Kalydeco, aimed at treating cystic fibrosis.

Google shares rose 1.8 per cent after a California jury ruled it guilty in a software copyright lawsuit by Oracle; the good news was that the jury was unable to agree on whether damages should be awarded to Oracle. -- AFP