US stocks turn lower on Wall Street as automakers sink


              FILE - In this Monday, Aug. 24, 2015, file photo, a man walks towards the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks are edging higher in early trading on Wall Street, Monday, April 3, 2017, with the biggest gains going to materials and industrial companies. The early gains follow a solid first quarter for U.S. stocks. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE - In this Monday, Aug. 24, 2015, file photo, a man walks towards the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks are edging higher in early trading on Wall Street, Monday, April 3, 2017, with the biggest gains going to materials and industrial companies. The early gains follow a solid first quarter for U.S. stocks. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. stocks are mostly lower Monday, the first day of trading in the second quarter. Tesla is rising after it disclosed a jump in quarterly deliveries, but other car makers are slipping after reporting March sales figures that disappointed investors. Banks and energy companies are also lower. Gains for insurance companies are leading health care stocks higher.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 13 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,349 as of 11:22 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 89 points, or 0.4 percent, to 20,573. The Nasdaq composite shed 28 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5,883. The Russell 2000 index of small-company stocks gave up 16 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,370.

MANUFACTURING DATA: American factories expanded for the seventh straight month in March, but they did so at a slightly slower pace than they did in February. The March report from the Institute for Supply Management was a bit better than analysts expected, but stocks still turned lower after it was released.

The losses were widespread. Some of the biggest declines went to banks. Bank of America declined 39 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $23.20 and Charles Schwab dipped 66 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $40.51. Microsoft shed 54 cents to $65.32 and lead technology companies lower, while Accenture lost $2.55, or 2.1 percent, to $117.33.

Basic materials companies also dropped. Freeport-McMoRan surrendered 25 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $13.11 and Martin Marietta Materials fell $3.30, or 1.5 percent, to $214.95.

HONK IF YOU'RE SELLING: Auto sales have reached all-time highs in recent years and they're expected to rise in March as well, but analysts fear they've plateaued and will start slowing down soon.

Ford's sales slumped 7.5 percent as sales of SUVs slipped and car sales plunged because of some big fleet sales the company reported a year ago. Fiat Chrysler said its totals sales declined 5 percent. Ford gave up 34 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $11.30 and Fiat Chrysler lost 53 cents, or 4.8 percent, to $10.41. General Motors said its sales grew 2 percent, but that didn't excite investors. Its stock fell $1.41, or 4 percent, to $33.95.

Tesla said over the weekend that its deliveries jumped 69 percent in the first quarter to a record 25,000. The electric car company's stock climbed $12.86, or 4.6 percent, to $291.16.

Auto parts retailer O'Reilly Automotive dropped $15.41, or 5.7 percent, to $257.53. Auto retailer AutoNation shed $1.45, or 3.4 percent, to $40.84 and Goodyear Tire slid $1, or 2.8 percent, to $35.

NOVOCURE SURGES: Medical device company Novocure jumped after a study of its Optune device, which uses electric fields to fight cancer, appeared to improve survival for patients with aggressive brain tumors. Over the weekend the company said 13 percent of patients treated with the device as well as chemotherapy were still alive after five years, compared to 5 percent for the patients who received only chemotherapy. Many doctors are skeptical of the product, and it's costly, at $21,000 a month. Optune is sold in the U.S. and three other countries. Novocure stock climbed $4.20, or 51.9 percent, to $12.30.

BONDS: Bond prices ticked surged. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.33 percent from 2.39 percent.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 33 cents to $50.27 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slipped 34 cents to $53.19 a barrel in London. Energy companies traded lower as Hess fell $1.20, or 2.5 percent, to $47.01 and Schlumberger dipped 72 cents to $77.38. Natural gas companies dropped along with the price of that fuel.

IN THE PINK: Health care companies rose as major insurers traded higher. Cigna rose $3.46, or 2.4 percent, to $149.95 and Humana picked up $3.81 or 1.8 percent, to $209.95. Aetna gained $1.47, or 1.2 percent, to $129.0 while UnitedHealth added $1.25 to $165.26.

CURRENCIES: The dollar sank to 111.04 yen from 111.29 yen and the euro fell to $1.0652 from $1.0684.

OVERSEAS: In Germany, the DAX sank 0.4 percent while France's CAC 40 slipped 0.7 percent. The FTSE 100 of Britain surrendered 0.6 percent. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.4 percent and the Kospi in South Korea rose 0.3 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.5 percent.

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AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/marley-jay

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