Wall Street Dips on Consumer Data; Indices Near Records

New York: US stocks edged lower on Tuesday, with major indices retreating slightly from record levels after a reading of consumer confidence unexpectedly fell to its weakest level since June.

Wall Street had opened higher, boosted by strong data on economic growth, though sharp gains were difficult to come by in a quiet week following long-running equity advances.

November consumer confidence fell to 88.7 from October's revised 94.1. Expectations were for a reading of 96.

The report gave investors a reason to take profits following recent gains. The S&P has closed higher in 12 of its last 14 sessions, and is coming off five-week streaks of gains. The benchmark index is up more than 13 per cent from an intraday low in mid-October.

"Valuations are a bit stretched, but as long as fundamentals continue to move forward investors will find a way to keep moving prices higher," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland, Ohio. "I don't think we'll see anything to disrupt this move."

In a positive economic report, the Commerce Department raised its estimate of third quarter gross domestic product to a 3.9 per cent annual pace from the 3.5 per cent rate reported last month. The reading was stronger than expected. (Read more)

Market moves may be amplified this week by low volume, which is expected with some market participants out for the Thanksgiving holiday. The US stock market will be closed on Thursday and will close early on Friday.

Apple Inc rose 0.5 per cent to $119.23, pushing the tech giant's market cap above $700 billion for the first time.

Tiffany & Co rose 2.4 per cent to $107.60 after same-store sales growth beat expectations.

Workday Inc late Monday forecast fiscal 2016 revenue below expectations, sending shares down 6 per cent at $86.96.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 14.85 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 17,803.05.

The S&P 500 lost 3.65 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 2,065.76.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.98 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 4,753.91.

Energy shares were the weakest performers of the day, down 1.6 percent alongside a 1.5 per cent drop in the price of crude oil. The moves came ahead of an OPEC meeting that could cut output. Exxon Mobil Corp fell 1.2 per cent to $94.61 while Chevron Corp was off 1.5 per cent to $115.87.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,579 to 1,292, for a 1.22-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,433 issues fell and 1,098 advanced for a 1.31-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 65 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 103 new highs and 30 new lows.

Copyright @ Thomson Reuters 2014