Reports on consumer confidence, GDP tug at stocks

By STEPHEN BERNARD and SARA LEPRO

posted: 14 MINUTES AGO

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NEW YORK -Stocks retreated from 13-month highs after a lackluster reading on consumer confidence and a report showing slower economic growth sapped the market's optimism.

Major indexes were slightly lower Tuesday after the Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 49.5 in November from a revised reading of 48.7 in October. While better than expected, the report shows that consumers remain gloomy heading into the holiday season. A reading above 90 means the economy is on solid footing.

Stocks had already been falling in morning trading after the government revised its calculation of third-quarter economic growth down to 2.8 percent from its original estimate of 3.5 percent, the latest sign that the recovery is likely to be slow and bumpy.

"It's all about the daily data," said Howard Ward, chief investment officer of the GAMCO Growth Fund. "Today's was uninspiring."

The decline in stocks came after a big rally on Monday carried the Dow Jones industrials up 133 points to their highest level in just over a year. A weakening dollar and an upbeat report on housing lured investors back into stocks after a three-day losing streak. The dollar bounced back on Tuesday, hurting stock market sentiment.

The dollar's weakness has been a big driver behind higher stock prices this year. Investors have been taking advantage of record-low interest rates to invest in assets other than cash that can earn them better returns.

As the end of the year approaches, however, safe-haven assets like the dollar and Treasurys have become more appealing as investors seek to safeguard some of the big gains in the stock market this year. At the same time, some investors who missed out on the eight-month rally that began in March are looking for opportunities to get in, creating a back-and-forth pattern that has become familiar in recent weeks.

"There are people that have done quite well and maybe they want to protect themselves, but fear and greed still drive the market and I think there are plenty of people out there that want in on the action," said William Rutherford, president of Rutherford Investment Management in Portland, Ore.

At midday, the Dow fell 42.70, or 0.4 percent, to 10,408.25. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 3.22, or 0.3 percent, to 1,103.02, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 11.33, or 0.5 percent, to 2,164.68.

About two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a relatively low 392.8 million shares, compared with 423.2 million at the same time on Monday.

Analysts expect trading to be choppy this week amid light trading volume heading into the Thanksgiving holiday.

A report earlier Tuesday showing the fourth straight month of improving house prices in September did little to shore up investor confidence. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index rose 0.3 percent in September from the previous month.

Later Tuesday, the Federal Reserve will issue the minutes from its latest rate-setting meeting, during which it pledged to keep rates low for the foreseeable future and downplayed any threat of inflation.

Investors have been battling mixed signals on the economy in recent months. Areas like housing have shown modest improvements, but others like consumer confidence and employment are lagging. That has investors worried that their bets on an economic recovery over the past eight months may have been overdone. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 63.5 percent since early March.

A slightly stronger dollar put pressure on the shares of commodities and materials producing companies. When the dollar rises, it makes commodities and commodities-related products more expensive for buyers overseas.

The ICE Futures US dollar index, a widely used measure of the dollar against other currencies, rose 0.2 percent. Oil prices fell $1.43 to $76.13 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold prices rose slightly.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.35 percent from 3.36 percent late Monday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.05 percent from 0.03 percent.

In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 4.55, or 0.8 percent, to 590.26.

Overseas, China's Shanghai index fell 3.5 percent, its biggest decline in three months, while Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.1 percent, while Germany's DAX index and France's CAC-40 each slipped 0.2 percent.

2009-11-24 12:28:09