New York – Wall Street closed lower in profit-taking Tuesday after the previous session’s big gain, though the market held on reasonably well despite a surprising drop in consumer confidence and a disappointing forecast from Texas Instruments Inc.
The major indexes were down for much of the day, then recovered most of their losses in late trading. Still, the market’s give and take reflected the unknowns facing investors.
Wall Street remained gratified by the nomination of Bush administration economist Ben Bernanke to succeed Alan Greenspan as head of the Federal Reserve Board, but also continued to worry about inflation in the face of slow economic growth and warnings of declining fourth-quarter sales or profits from major companies like Texas Instruments.
Stocks were further pressured as the Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index fell to 85 in October, down from 86.6 in September and less than the 88 reading economists had expected. The unexpected drop raised new concerns about consumer spending just a month before the start of the holiday shopping season.
“We’re in a market that is clearly in a little short-term decision box,” said Rod Smyth, chief investment strategist at Wachovia Securities. “It’s the debate whether core inflation remains low, which allows the Fed to stop raising rates, or whether core inflation is not able to be contained. We’ll get a progression of data and numbers that will help resolve this somewhat, but until then, we’re in the box.”
The Dow fell 7.13, or 0.07 percent, to 10,377.87, having lost more than 68 points earlier in the session. The Dow shot up 169 points on Monday.
Broader stock indicators were modestly lower. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 2.84, or 0.24 percent, to 1,196.54, and the Nasdaq composite index lost 6.38, or 0.3 percent, to 2,109.45.
The Bloomberg Colorado Index, a price-weighted list of companies based in the state, gained 0.86, or 0.3 percent, to 299.74.
