Apple's share drop pressures Wall Street

Blue chip stocks on Wall Street ROSE but a drop in Apple pulled the technology sector and the broader down.

Apple shareholders were said to be selling to cash in on the stock's more-than-40% gain this year rather than any inherent problem.

The company's market cap has fallen to around $US549 billion amid a 2.7% drop in its stock price today. It recently hit an all-time high of $US600 billion. 

Further afield, concerns about Spain's finances remained strong, pulling that country’s main index down for a third day and pushing the key bond rate over the 6% mark.

A flood of US economic data produced a mixed bag, with retail sales up more than expected but the housing market and New York manufacturing output down. Business inventories were up.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 71.82 points, or 0.6%, to 12,921.41 at the close (8am NZ time). Last week, the Dow fell 211 points, or 1.6% – its biggest point and percentage declines of the year.

The S&P 500 index was down less than a point to 1369.57, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.8% to 2988.40. Citigroup rose 2.5% after reporting improvements in all three of its lines of business for the first quarter.

Other markets: Europe up, Asia down
European stocks generally rose while yields on Spanish bonds topped 6% for the first time since December.

The Spanish IBEX-35 index fell 0.6% to 7209.10, while the Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.3% to 254.26.

France's CAC 40 index added 0.5% to 3205.28, the German DAX rose 0.6% to 6625.19 and London's FTSE 100 firmed 0.3% to 5666.28.

Asian stock markets were lower with financial and commodity stocks falling sharply.

The People's Bank of China decision over the weekend to double the yuan's trading range against the US dollar pushed currencies such as the yen and dollar higher, hurting commodity prices.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gave up 1.7% 9470.64, Korea's Kospi dropped 0.8% to `992.63, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.5% 4302.30 and Taiwan's Taiex slid 0.8% to 7729.86.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.4% to 20,610.64, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.1% 2357.03.

Commodities: Oil, gold down
Crude-oil futures fell 0.6% to $US102.16 a barrel, while gold futures slipped 0.5% to $US1652.70 an ounce.

Currencies: Euro falls to $US1.30
The euro dipped briefly below the $US1.30 level for the first time since late January as Spanish government-bond yields rose.

The US dollar traded mostly higher against major currencies but pared gains in the wake of better-than-expected retail sales data.

The euro traded at $US1.3070 from $US1.3078 late on Friday. Earlier, it fell to $US1.2993.

The dollar was at ¥80.46 compared with ¥80.92. The pound bought $1.5873 from $1.5847, while the dollar fetched 0.9197 Swiss franc from 0.9195 franc.