NEW YORK: US stocks gave up morning gains and finished slightly lower Monday as profit taking took hold in the final hour and positive consumer spending data failed to charge the market.
"A dip in disposable income, as well as discouraging inflationary data, took its toll in afternoon trading," said Andrea Kramer of Schaeffer's Investment Research.
"Against this backdrop, and thanks to a late-session retreat among tech stocks, the major market indexes snapped their three-session run higher, following crude and gold futures into the red by the close." The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.71 points (0.19 percent) to finish at 12,197.88. The broader S&P 500 lost 3.61 points (0.27 percent) at 1,310.19, while the Nasdaq Composite pared 12.38 points (0.45 percent) to 2,730.68. The markets got a charge in early trade with a better-than-forecast increase in personal spending, despite the turmoil in Japan, the Arab crescent and the eurozone.
The US Commerce Department reported consumer spending rose 0.7 percent in February, more than double the 0.3 percent monthly increase in January. But some analysts played down those gains, noting much of that was driven by higher prices for food and energy. The figures also showed a 0.1 percent contraction in personal incomes, also dulling the impact of the improved consumption figures. Eastman Kodak added 6.2 percent to $3.61 after a late Friday procedural ruling favouring the company in a patent-infringement claim against Apple and Research in Motion.
If the US International Trade Commission makes a final ruling in favour of Eastman Kodak, it could earn the company hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties. Since its Thursday closing level, Kodak stocks are up 14.6 percent. Nokia added 4.6 percent and Alcatel 8.6 percent after the two companies earned upgrades from Goldman Sachs. Major hotel groups took a plunge after Marriott International forecast poor per-room revenues in North America for the first quarter. Marriott shares tumbled 6.3 percent, Starwood Hotels lost 5.7 percent, and Intercontinental shares dropped 3.8 percent. Chinese state-controlled oil and fuels trader China Integrated Energy plunged 29.1 percent after a law firm hit the company with an investors' class-action suit alleging malfeasance by senior management and directors. The company rejected the charges. Bond prices changed little. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.45 percent from 3.44 percent late Friday, and the 30-year note fell to 4.49 percent from 4.51 percent. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
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