US stocks pull back after weeks of gains

NEW YORK – Wall Street stocks ticked down Monday, coming off a fourth straight week of gains, as investors eye retail spending and other upcoming economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2 per cent to 35,333.47.

The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.2 per cent to 4,550.43, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite index lost 0.1 per cent to 14,241.02.

“The Nasdaq has held the upper hand today among the major indices, mostly because of some relative strength found in some of the mega-cap stocks and the semiconductor stocks,” said Briefing.com in a note.

Among the chip companies, Nvidia shares closed 1.0 per cent higher while Intel was up 0.3 per cent. Qualcomm rose 0.4 per cent.

But for most part, stocks walked a “middling line” amid expectations of consolidation after four straight weeks of gains, Briefing.com added.

Traders will be eyeing this week’s data releases including the Conference Board’s reading of consumer confidence, the Institute for Supply Management’s rating of manufacturing industry health and US data on consumer prices, income and consumption.

The key issue is what such data will mean for the Federal Reserve and its interest rate decision after a final policy meeting of the year. AFP