By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks slipped at Friday’s start, with investors pausing after a two-day leap that came in relief over Europe and added 501 points to the Dow industrials.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.11% fell 26.26 points, or 0.2%, to 12,183.05, with 14 of its 30 components falling.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index SPX -0.30% declined 6.03 points to 1,278.56, with financials fading the most among its 10 sectors and health-care faring the best.
The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP -0.32% retreated 10.74 points to 2,727.89.
For every stock rising nearly two fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where 112 million shares traded as of 9:55 a.m. Eastern.
Wall Street offered muted reaction to economic data. The Commerce Department reported consumer spending picked up last month, as Americans bought 0.6% more after a 0.2% spending rise in August. Incomes advanced 0.1% in September after falling 0.1% the prior month, and the savings rate declined to a nearly four-year low.
Context to rise
With two trading sessions left to finish for the month, all three benchmark indexes are in line to tally a double-digit gain in October and should end the week in the plus column, barring a significant move lower.
Putting the recent surge in context, Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG, noted in emailed commentary that the near 20% decline in the S&P 500 in July and August came, in his view, on two false assumptions: “first, that the U.S. was in or imminently entering a recession and second, the euro area was on the verge of collapse.”
Greenhaus argues that if neither was accurate, the S&P 500 belongs closer to 1,300 than to 1,100.
Investors would be wise to temper their expectations, especially in the week ahead, the final big one for quarterly earnings and with both the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank meeting and holding news conferences, Greenhaus said. The October employment report scheduled for release on Friday will also come into play in shaping market perceptions going forward, the analyst noted.
Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.
