U.S. stocks were little changed, following the biggest weekly rally since January 2013, as energy producers led losses after oil dipped below $80 a barrel while telephone and consumer-staples shares rose.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped less than 0.2 percent to 1,961.54 at 4 p.m. in New York. Equities pared losses earlier as the European Central Bank said it settled 1.704 billion euros ($2.2 billion) of covered-bond purchases last week as it started its latest effort to revive the region’s economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 12.08 points at 16,817.49. The Russell 2000 Index fell 0.1 percent.
“Oil is the major thing on people’s minds right now,” Skip Aylesworth, a portfolio manager at Hennessy Funds in Boston, where he helps oversee about $5 billion, said by phone. “What we’re seeing is a major shift in oil pricing where prices have dropped and you have producers being impacted the most. Europe’s in trouble and Asia’s slowing down, there’s less demand and the question is will lower prices all of a sudden make oil not profitable to drill for and will this new kind of drilling for new sources slow down.”
Weekly Move
The S&P 500 surged 4.1 percent last week for its best performance since January 2013, halting a four-week slide.
Fed policy makers are meeting Oct. 28-29, when they are expected to end monthly asset purchases as the U.S. economy shows further signs of recovery. Minutes from the last meeting, when policy makers pledged to keep U.S. borrowing costs low for a considerable time, showed officials expressed concern that the economy may be at risk from a global slowdown.
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