(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell, after a ninth straight quarterly gain, as weaker-than-estimated data on hiring and manufacturing reinforced concern that economic growth may be slowing. American Airlines Group Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. slumped 4 percent after Deutsche Bank cut its ratings on the shares amid concerns about their international business. Boeing Co. dropped 1.6 percent, while Merck & Co. Inc. slipped 1.6 percent. The S&P 500 Index lost 0.3 percent to 2,061.23 at 11:14 a.m. in New York. The gauge climbed back above its average price for the past 100 days after earlier falling below it. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 57.72 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,718.40. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.4 percent “We’re still coming out with this idea that the economy’s slowed a bit,� said Jim Dunigan, chief investment officer at PNC Bank NA in Philadelphia, which oversees $135 billion. “We’re in no-man’s-land as we start earnings.� Alcoa Inc. unofficially kicks off the earnings season when it reports results on April 8. Analysts estimate first-quarter profits for S&P 500 companies will decline for the first time since 2009. They had projected earnings growth for the period as recently as January. Economic Data Companies added 189,000 workers to payrolls in March, figures from Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Research Institute showed, fewer than the 225,000 economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast. The data comes before the Labor Department’s report Friday in which economists predict nonfarm payrolls rose 245,000 last month with no change to February’s 5.5 percent unemployment rate. A separate report showed factories expanded in March at the slowest pace since May 2013, a sign struggling overseas economies and cutbacks among oil producers are hindering U.S. manufacturing. The Institute for Supply Management’s index declined to 51.5 from 52.9 a month earlier. The S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent on Tuesday in New York, trimming a ninth quarterly advance in a market that has tripled since 2009. The index’s 0.4 percent three-month gain trailed most developed markets, with Europe’s benchmark gauge surging 16 percent and Japan’s Topix index climbing 9.6 percent. Nasdaq Composite Index posted its longest quarterly winning streak ever, boosted by biotech stocks. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index rallied 13 percent and also posted a nine-quarter winning streak, its longest since 2000. Airlines Slide Seven of the S&P 500’s 10 main groups fell Wednesday, led for a second day by health-care and industrial companies. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index rose 2.3 percent to 15.64. The gauge, know as the VIX, posted its biggest quarterly decline in two years, down 20 percent. A Bloomberg index of U.S. airlines dropped 3.1 percent after Delta Air, United Continental Holdings Inc. and American Airlines were cut to hold by Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Linenberg. A strong dollar, capacity increases by non-U.S. airlines and slowing global GDP contributed to the downgrade decision. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index dropped 1.5 percent, as Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. retreated 2.4 percent. GM Slips General Motors Co. declined 1.6 percent after March sales fell below analysts’ estimates. Sales dropped 2.4 percent as a 14 percent gain in trucks and SUVs couldn’t overcome a 21 percent decline in cars. Sears Holdings Corp. rose 5.5 percent to its highest level in five months after it formed a real estate investment trust that will acquire about 254 of the retailer’s properties, generating more than $2.5 billion in proceeds. Monsanto Co. rose 3 percent, the most since June, after the world’s largest seed company reported that plantings of its newest genetically modified soybeans jumped fivefold in 2015 and will double next year. That outweighed concerns about the impact of a stronger dollar on foreign sales and a smaller corn crop this year. Earlier Plunge Futures on the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq 100 Index bounced back from a rapid plunge earlier. At about 9:55 a.m. in Tokyo, S&P 500 E-mini contracts tumbled by as much as 1.3 percent over a two-minute period before rebounding. Selling increased just before 10 a.m. in Tokyo, when futures slid below the average price over the past 100 days, with volume about three times higher than the five-day average for that time of the day. E-mini S&P 500 futures opened 0.1 percent lower Wednesday at 2,058 and meandered within a four-point range for the first two hours of trading. After 9 a.m. Tokyo time, the contracts began heading steadily lower, before losses snowballed at 9:55 a.m. with an 11.75-point slump in two minutes. More than 13,500 contracts changed hands in that span. The S&P 500 contract bottomed at 2,033.5, bounced back to 2,048.5 by 10:33 a.m. in Tokyo and pared losses to 2,050 by 3:24 p.m. Support Level The sudden drop in futures may have been triggered after the contract failed to close above a key support level, according to Andy Dodd, a technical analyst and sales trader with Louis Capital Markets. Support refers to an area on a chart where orders may be clustered. The contract tumbled to 2,060.75 on Tuesday, below its 50-day moving average of 2,061. “Someone may have tried to sell a position or was stopped out and there was simply not enough liquidity due to the time of day,� said Dodd. “The long-term uptrend is around that 2,030.75 support level so no surprise it rallied off there.� To contact the reporters on this story: Oliver Renick in New York at orenick2@bloomberg.net; Jennifer Kaplan in New York at jkaplan84@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecile Vannucci at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net John Shipman

Source