Investing.com – U.S. stocks closed mixed on Friday, as Amazon’s $13.7 billion deal to buy Whole Foods weighed on retail and grocery companies.
Shares of Whole Foods surged 30% after Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced a deal to buy the retailer for $13.7 billion. The deal sparked concerns among investors as to what impact an Amazon-owned Whole Foods would have on the margins of other retailers and grocery companies.
Walmart closed nearly 5% lower, as analysts signalled the deal gives Amazon a serious brick-and-mortar presence, threatening traditional retailers such as Wall-Mart.
"The consolidation of [Amazon and Whole Foods] is likely to accelerate the trend we have already seen among Millennial consumers who have rejected traditional Big Food brands in favor of more authentic, trendy offerings," Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) analyst Robert Moskow wrote in a note to clients.
The announcement of the deal overshadowed weaker housing and consumer sentiment data, pointing to a potential slowdown in the U.S. economy.
Housing starts dropped 5.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.09 million units, the Commerce Department said on Friday, well below forecasts of a 4.1% increase.
In a separate report the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment gauged fell to 94.5 in early June from 91.1 in May. Analysts had expected a reading of 97.1.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed in at 21,384.28. The S&P 500 closed flat while the Nasdaq Composite fell to 6,151.76, down 0.22%.
The ‘Bulls and Bears’ on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) up 1.9%, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) up 1.5%, while Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) rose 1.1%.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) down 4.7%, Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) down 3.4% and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) down 1.4%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.