NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are mostly lower at midday Wednesday, but a big gain for Apple sent the Dow Jones industrial average above 22,000 for the first time. Movie theater companies and studios are tumbling after AMC Entertainment gave a weak forecast and said it will cut costs. Health care companies are down as prescription drug distributor Cardinal Health gets pummeled after cutting its forecasts for the year.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow, which tracks 30 big-name U.S. companies, climbed 36 points, or 0.2 percent, to 21,999 as of noon Eastern time. It traded above 22,000 points earlier.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, a much broader market measure used by most professional investors, fell 5 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,470. The Nasdaq composite lost 28 points, or 0.5 percent, to 6,334. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks shed 17 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,411.
Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
APPLE GETS AN ‘A’: Apple’s fiscal third-quarter profit and sales were better than experts had anticipated. The company is forecasting $49 billion to $52 billion in revenue for the current quarter, which ends in September. That was also above estimates, and it’s better than last year, when the iPhone 7 was released. Some experts feared that delays for the next iPhone model would cause Apple would forecast far lower sales. The stock climbed $7.83, or 5.2 percent, to $157.88.
HORROR FILM: Movie theater operators plunged after AMC Entertainment said U.S. box office receipts dropped 4.4 percent in the second quarter, and it expects the third quarter to be difficult as well. AMC it also taking a charge of more than $170 million because its investment in another chain, National CineMedia, lost value. The company is also planning to slash costs by making changes including discounts, cuts in operating hours and staff levels, and new pricing plans.
AMC dropped $4.98, or 23.9 percent, to $15.83 and Regal Entertainment sank 74 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $18.35. Cinemark Holdings lost $1.96, or 4.9 percent, to $37.80.
Companies that make movies, or let customers stream them, also took sharp losses. Disney fell $1.99, or 1.8 percent, to $108.62 and CBS gave up $1.89, or 2.9 percent, to $64.19. Viacom dipped $1.06, or 3 percent, to $34.47 and Netflix shed $1.81 to $180.32. Amazon decreased $7.17 to $989.02.
BIG DIVE: Retailers also stumbled. Big 5 Sporting Goods reported a weak profit and sales that fell short of analysts’ forecasts. Big 5 said sales of firearms, camping and water sports equipment fell, and its estimates for the current quarter fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Its stock tumbled $1.70, or 15.5 percent, to $9.25.
Car retailer AutoNation also had a disappointing quarter as prices for used cars fell. Its stock dropped $2.29, or 5.5 percent, to $39.68.
CARDINAL SEES RED: Prescription drug distributor Cardinal Health forecast a much smaller profit than analysts expected. The company said it’s being hurt by lower prices for generic drugs, as well as smaller increases in the prices of brand-name drugs and the loss of a contract with the Safeway grocery chain. The company’s stock lost $7.41, or 9.6 percent, to $69.93.
ILLUMINA LIGHTS UP: Genetic tools company Illumina raised its projections for the rest of the year after solid results in the most recent quarter. The company said demand for its NovaSeq genetic sequencing system was better than expected, and its stock gained $21.76, or 12.6 percent, to $194.06.
OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude added 32 cents to $49.48 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 47 cents to $52.25 a barrel in London.
BONDS: Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note remained at 2.25 percent.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 110.46 yen from 110.30 yen. The euro edged up to $1.1858 from $1.1801.
OVERSEAS: Germany’s DAX lost 0.5 percent and the CAC 40 in shed 0.4 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 gave up 0.2 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 percent and South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.2 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 0.2 percent.
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