Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. paced losses in energy shares as oil sank to as low as $75.84 a barrel in New York. Sprint tumbled 19 percent as the wireless carrier lost subscribers for an 11th straight quarter. Priceline slid 8.7 percent on a weaker-than-projected sales forecast.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.4 percent to 2,009.41 at 2:47 p.m. in New York as investors also await election results to see if Republicans wrest control of the Senate. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.89 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 17,370.13 as Procter & Gamble Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. led gains. Trading in S&P 500 companies was 9 percent below the 30-day average at this time of the day.
"Look at the price of oil way down — that tells you everything you need to know," Michael James, a Los Angeles- based managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc., said in a phone interview. "There might be some important things that come out of the election, but none of them will be bigger than the momentum from earnings and the impact that the price of oil will have on market sentiment."
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