NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are slightly higher Friday as gains for chipmakers give the technology sector a boost, and energy companies are rising with oil prices. Tesla is plunging after federal regulators moved to oust Elon Musk as the electric car maker's CEO following his tweet last month that he was close to a deal to take Tesla private.
European stocks are falling after Italy's new government announced a big increase in spending. Italy's main stock index fell almost 4 percent and other European indexes also took sharp losses as investors worried that the government's plan will lead to a clash with European Union leaders who want Italy to reduce its debt level. Banks are skidding.
KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index rose 4 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,918 as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 67 points, or 0.1 percent, to 26,506. The Nasdaq composite rose 9 points, or 0.1 percent, to 8,051. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks jumped 7 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,698.
It's been a down week for U.S. indexes, but the third quarter has been the strongest for the U.S. market in several years. The S&P is up 7.2 percent in since the end of June, its best showing since a gain of just under 10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013. Health care stocks have done the best.
ITALIAN SPENDING: The new spending plans announced by Italy's government would push its budget deficit to 2.4 percent of gross domestic product next year, a significant jump from previous government's target of 1.6 percent this year. While that's still within EU limits, it is likely to set up a clash with leaders who want Italy to bring down its debt level, which is the second-highest of any EU country after Greece.
Italy's FTSE MIB sank 3.7 percent while the German DAX gave up 1.5 percent. France's CAC 40 lost 0.8 percent and the FTSE 100 index in Britain shed 0.5 percent.
Yields on Italian government bonds rose sharply, a sign of lower investor confidence in the government's financial strength. The yield on Italy's 10-year bond jumped to 3.14 percent from 2.89 percent, a huge move.
Italian bank UniCredit sank 6.7 percent to $12.96. Among European banks, Credit Suisse fell 2.6 percent to $15 and Barclays dipped 2.9 percent to $9.13. In the U.S., Citigroup fell 1.1 percent to $72.16 and Goldman Sachs shed 1 percent to $225.46.
CHIPPING IN: Chipmakers rallied. Nvidia rose 4.8 percent to $280.36 and Intel gained 3.1 percent to $47.29 as technology companies continued to fare better than the rest of the market.
HAIRPIN TURN: Tesla dropped 11.6 percent to $271.80 after the Securities and Exchange Commission said it has asked the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to bar Musk from serving as an officer or director of a public company. The SEC launched an investigation after Musk tweeted in early August that he had secured the funding for a deal to take Tesla private. It soon became clear that the company wasn't close to a deal, and the SEC says Musk committed securities fraud with his statements about plans to take the company private.
Musk called the action unjustified. His tweet said the company would go private at $420 per share, and the stock jumped to almost $380 that day. It's fallen 29 percent since then.
ANTISOCIAL: While internet and communication companies did well in the third quarter, it was a brutal three months for a few familiar names. Facebook said it discovered a security breach that affects 50 million user accounts, and its stock fell 3.5 percent to $162.86. Facebook plunged 19 percent on July 26 after it said user growth had slowed. That loss slashed Facebook's value by $119 billion, one of the biggest drops in stock market history.
Facebook has fallen 16 percent this quarter, its worst three-month run in six years. And Twitter is the worst-performing stock on the S&P 500 index over that time, down 34 percent. It was on a huge run until it reported weak user growth in late July, a day after Facebook's report. Investors also worried about the possibility of greater regulation of both companies following hearings in Congress.
ASIA'S DAY: Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 1.4 percent after the country agreed to open negotiations on a trade agreement with the United States. The move won Japan relief from the immediate threat of punitive tariffs on its auto exports to the U.S. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 0.3 percent and South Korea's slipped 0.5 percent.
ENERGY: Energy companies rose as benchmark U.S. crude rose 2 percent to $73.54 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 2.3 percent to $83.23 per barrel in London.
BONDS: Bond prices edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.04 percent from 3.05 percent.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 113.55 yen from 113.42 yen. The euro fell to $1.1612 from $1.1658.
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AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/marley%20jay
