By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks were mainly lower on
Monday, with the S&P 500 taking a break from its record rise,
as Wall Street considered earnings and Tuesday's delayed release of
the nonfarm-payrolls report for September.
"Both the economy and earnings appeared to have had good
momentum going into the fourth quarter. However, analysts will
still need to assess how much the (government) shutdown hurt the
economy," noted David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan
Funds, in emailed commentary.
Equities improved after the National Association of Realtors
reported existing U.S. home sales fell 1.9% in September due to
rising prices and mortgage rates.
Wavering between small gains and losses, the Dow Jones
Industrial Average (DJI) was lately down 36.22 points, or 0.2%, at
15,363.43.
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) fell 0.7% after the fast-food chain
reported sales below expectations. Another Dow component, AT&T
Inc., (T) climbed 1.5% after it agreed to sell or lease 9,700
wireless towers.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) was down slightly after the
bank reportedly agreed to pay $13 billion to halt U.S. civil
investigations into its mortgage-bond sales.
The S&P 500 index (SPX) shed 1.71 points, or 0.1%, to
1,742.79, with health care losing the most ground and
telecommunications faring best among its 10 sectors.
Gannett Co. Inc. (GCI) shares lost 6.6% after the newspaper
chain reported a 4% decline in quarterly revenue. Hasbro Inc. (HAS)
gained 6.6% after the toy seller reported third-quarter results
that beat Wall Street's expectations.
The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) added 4.44 points, or 0.1%, to
3,918.72.
For every three shares rising, roughly four were down on the New
York Stock Exchange, where 180 million shares traded as of 11 a.m.
Eastern time. Composite volume neared 905 million shares.
Gold futures (GCZ3) rose $2.10, or 0.1%, to $1,316.70 an ounce,
and crude futures (CLX3) lost 91 cents, or 0.9%, to $99.91 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The dollar(DXY) gained against the currencies of major U.S.
trading partners, including the euro (EURUSD) and the yen
(USDJPY).
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note (10_YEAR) used in
figuring mortgage rates and other consumer loans rose 3 basis
points to 2.612%.
The global economy is "still on the mend in the face of the
easiest monetary policy ever implemented by developed-nation
central banks. As the economy improves and earnings rise, this aid
will gradually be reduced, boosting interest rates. Despite recent
stock-market gains, such an environment still supports the idea of
an overweight to equities relative to fixed income around the
world," wrote J.P. Morgan Funds' Kelly.
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