U.S. Stocks Trim Loss as Reid Says He’s Open to Debt Compromise
July 26, 2011, 3:03 PM EDTBy Michael P. Regan and Nikolaj Gammeltoft
July 26 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks trimmed losses as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he’s open to compromises on plans to cut the deficit, while Lexmark International Inc. and Broadcom Corp. led a rally in technology companies.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell less than 0.1 percent to 1,336.96 at 2:40 p.m. in New York after losing as much as 0.6 percent earlier. Lexmark surged 18 percent and Broadcom advanced 10 percent to lead technology shares to the biggest gain in the index among 10 industries after each reported earnings that topped analysts’ estimates.
Earlier declines were led by industrial shares following outlooks from 3M Co. and United Parcel Service Inc. that disappointed investors.
Reid said today that credit rating services have said his proposal for raising the U.S. debt limit wouldn’t lead them to lower the government’s credit rating. CNN last night cited an unidentified investor as saying that S&P said the Reid bill would avoid a lowering of the U.S. credit rating.
By contrast, Reid said today, the Republican plan offered by House Speaker John Boehner “gives the credit agencies no choice but to downgrade U.S. debt.”
--Editor:
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael P. Regan at mregan12@bloomberg.net
