Wall Street: Tuesday open

13 April 2012

US stocks fell on the open as investors took gains from the previous session and eyed a likely drop in an indicator of consumer confidence.

Intel, the world's No. 1 computer chipmaker said it will pay $225m to Intergraph to settle a patent infringement suit related to Intel's Itanium microchips.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 7.33 points at 10,322.30. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.75 points to 1,990.82.

With no major earnings scheduled, many investors are now focused on the Conference Board's monthly consumer confidence survey, released at 1500 GMT. Confidence likely eroded in March after falling harder than expected in February as concerns over jobs, gasoline price rises and terrorism weighed on consumers, the latest Reuters poll found.

Intel was the most heavily traded stock on Nasdaq, falling 25 cents to $27.44. Intergraph shares jumped $4.01 to $24.29.

Exxon-Mobil and PepsiCo both rose in heavy trade on the New York Stock Exchange. An Alabama circuit court judge on Monday reduced an $11.8bn punitive damages award against Exxon-Mobil to $3.5bn in a lawsuit filed by the state seeking unpaid royalties on offshore natural gas leases. Its shares rose 28 cents to $41.35.

PepsiCo, the world's second-largest soft drink maker, rose after Monday's announcement that it would raise its annual dividend and authorize more share buybacks. Its shares rose $1.40 to $53.61.

Accenture rose 36 cents to $24.43 after the technology consulting company reported quarterly profit which beat analysts' average estimates.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in