US stockmarkets pared early half-percent opening losses in mid-morning trade yesterday as the debut shares of legendary British football club Manchester United held up above their $14 IPO price.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 17.41 points (0.13 percent) at 13,147.78 in early trading.
The broader S&P 500-stock index lost 1.95 (0.14 percent) to 1,400.85, while the tech-rich Nasdaq fell 5.52 points (0.18 percent) to 3,013.12.
Beijing said exports and imports slowed for the second consecutive month in July, highlighting worsening conditions in the world’s second-biggest economy.
Manchester United’s shares held barely above their $14 initial public offering price, already cut on Thursday from the expected $16-20 range amid doubts about the team’s profit-generating potential and worries over IPOs generally since the flop of Facebook’s May debut.
On the Nasdaq, Facebook was up 3.3 percent and Research in Motion gained 5.5 percent on speculation that IBM was interested in one of its units.
Yahoo shares sank 5.3 percent amid investor disappointment on strategy changes by the company’s new chief executive Marissa Mayer.
