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US close: Mixed ahead of rate decision

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Date: Wednesday 30 Apr 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - US stocks settled mixed as caution set in ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates and after a report showed consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in five years.

The Dow Jones fell 39 points to 12,831, the S&P dropped 5 points to 1,390 while the tech laced Nasdaq added 1 point to 2,426.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index dropped to 62.3 in April from 65.9 in March, its lowest level in five years. The decline however was not as sharp as expected.

Further evidence of the perilous state of the US housing market came as the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index showed its biggest ever year-on-year decline.

Drugmaker Merck weighed on the market after it said late Monday that the US Food and Drug Administration needs more information on its cholesterol drug candidate Cordaptive.

Mining stocks fell out of favour, as the dollar’s rally drives down the price of gold and copper. Freeport-McMoRan lead the sector’s retreat.

Builder DR Horton fell on the gloomy housing data while Masco, which makes taps and paints, is also a victim of the housing slump.

Glassmaker Corning was a bright spot after it said demand for televisions helped first quarter earnings per share come in 2 cents above analysts’ expectations at 44 cents.

Office Depot was another to produce results that pleasantly surprised the market. Although the stationer’s first quarter earnings per share fell to 29 cents, this still beat the market consensus of 22 cents.