Stocks fell Monday after a trio of economic reports fueled fears that the economy may be cooling too fast.
Personal spending, construction and Midwest manufacturing reports all came in weaker than expected, adding to jitters that began with Friday’s unexpectedly weak GDP report.
National manufacturing and employment reports due out later this week could tip the scale for investors wondering whether to buy or lock in profits after the best month for stocks in four years.
IBM continued to gain on the heels of strong results and a higher dividend, while Intel
and other chip stocks fell on renewed pricing concerns.
Verizon edged higher on better than expected results, and Kulicke & Soffa
, Datawatch
, Vishay
and Ceragon Networks
also rose on their earnings reports.
Nam Tai fell on its results, while Amazon
, Aquantive
and Sigma Designs
slumped on downgrades.
The Nasdaq fell 32 to 2525, the S&P 500 lost 11 1482, and the Dow fell 58 to 13,062. Volume rose to 3.1 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.21 billion on the Nasdaq. Declining issues led by a 23-9 margin on the NYSE, and 21-9 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 78% on the NYSE, and 83% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 253-36 on the NYSE, and 147-101 on the Nasdaq.
