NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. stocks are slipping Monday as insurance companies and oil drillers are falling while Tropical Storm Harvey continues to dump rain on the Texas Gulf Coast. The price of crude oil is tumbling and gas prices are rising. Health care companies are rising after hepatitis C and HIV drug maker Gilead Sciences agreed to buy cancer drug maker Kite Pharma for $11.9 billion.
KEEPING SCORE: In light trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1 point, or 0.1 percent, to 2,441 as of 3:15 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 25 points, or 0.1 percent, to 21,787. The Nasdaq composite rose 11 points, or 0.2 percent, to 6,276. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gained 3 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,380. Most of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange fell.
STORMY WEATHER: Tropical Storm Harvey continued to hit parts of Texas with historically heavy rains. The National Weather Service says some parts of Houston and its suburbs could get as much as 50 inches of rain before the storm abates, which isn’t expected to happen for days. The storm has shut down Texas’ oil and gas industry, and S&P Global analysts said about 2.2 million barrels per day of refining capacity was down or being shut down by Sunday.
THE QUOTE: The storm is likely to cause tens of billions of dollars in flood damage, and the effects in the Gulf region will be felt for years. Jack Ablin, chief investment officer for BMO Capital Markets, said elsewhere in the country, the storm and the flooding may raise many people’s insurance premiums as well as gas prices.
“There will be ripple effects that everyone is going to feel,” he said. Ablin added that the storm might affect interest rates as well, as the Federal Reserve might hesitate to raise interest rates soon if they think the storm will slow the economy.