Executive Chairman Stuart Miller said that conditions remain challenging, with customers feeling less confident while looking for discounts and more affordable options. As a result, the company gave limited forecasts for its upcoming financial performance.
Progressive, meanwhile, fell 2.4 per cent after the insurer based in Mayfield Village, Ohio, said that its net income for November fell 5 per cent from its year-ago level.
On the winning side of Wall Street were oil companies, after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela. It’s Trump’s latest escalation in pressure on Venezuela, which may be sitting on more oil than any other country.
That sent the price of a barrel of benchmark US crude higher by 1.7 per cent to $US56.06, just a day after it sank to its lowest level since 2021. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.7 per cent to $US59.90 per barrel.
That in turn helped ConocoPhillips rise 3.3 per cent and cut into its loss for the year so far, which came into the day at 8.5 per cent. Devon Energy rallied 3.8 per cent, and Halliburton added 0.9 per cent. Oil prices had dropped through most of this year on expectations that companies are pumping more than enough crude to meet the world’s demand.
Netflix climbed 1.1 per cent after Warner Bros. Discovery’s board said it still recommends shareholders approve a buyout offer for its Warner Bros. business from the streaming giant, rather than a competing hostile bid from Paramount Skydance for the entire company.
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Warner Bros. Discovery slipped 1.7 per cent, while Paramount Skydance fell 4.8 per cent.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady ahead of a report coming on Thursday that will show how bad inflation has been for US consumers.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.15 per cent, where it was late Tuesday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia.
South Korea’s Kospi leaped 1.4 per cent for one of the world’s bigger gains and shaved its loss for the week so far down to 2.7 per cent.
AP
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