Amazon Deal Sends Grocery Stocks Plunging

But Dow ends day at a record high close
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 16, 2017 3:16 PM CDT
Amazon Deal Sends Grocery Stocks Plunging
Specialist Brian Fairbrother, left, works with traders at the post that handles Kroger on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, June 16, 2017. Major U.S. indexes are slightly lower in early trading on Wall Street, but grocery stores and other retailers are plunging after Amazon said it would...   (Richard Drew)

Amazon's $13.4 billion deal for Whole Foods sent grocery stores, big retailers, and food makers and distributors plunging Friday, the AP reports. It's rare for a single deal to have a big effect on the broader stock market, but Amazon's agreement to buy Whole Foods Market did. Investors wondered if Amazon will do to grocery stores and supermarkets what it's done to sellers of goods like clothing and office supplies: force them to make big changes or be supplanted. Elsewhere, energy companies rose as oil futures bounced back from their lowest price this year and utilities and industrial and basic materials ground out modest gains. Thanks to a late gain, the Standard & Poor's 500 index inched up 0.69 points to 2,433.15. The Dow Jones industrial average added 24.38 points, or 0.1%, to a record high of 21,384.28. The Nasdaq composite fell 13.74 points, or 0.2%, to 6,151.76. (More stock market stories.)

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