NEW YORK — A September rally faltered on the stock market Tuesday as worries returned about Europe’s economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 closed with slight losses, breaking a four-day winning streak. Stocks are still up strongly this September, a historically weak month for the market.
Stocks had edged higher for much of the day following positive reports on U.S. retail sales and business inventories but retreated in the final 10 minutes of trading as investors’ enthusiasm waned.
Disappointing news from overseas hung over the market all day. European markets struggled to end barely higher after reports that German investor confidence fell sharply in September and industrial production unexpectedly stagnated during July in the countries that use the euro. Stocks in Tokyo fell after the yen touched another 15-year high against the dollar, which is bad news for Japanese exporters.
In other signs that investors remain cautious, gold climbed to another record and Treasury prices rose, sending interest rates lower.
The Dow fell 17.64, or 0.2 percent, to close at 10,526.49, and the S&P 500 lost 0.8 point, or 0.1 percent, to end at 1,121.10.
The Nasdaq composite edged up 4.06, or 0.2 percent, at 2,289.77.
Signs of modest growth have been enough to get traders to put more money into stocks in September and shake off malaise about the economy that dogged the market for most of August. However, analysts caution that the gains have come amid very light volume, a sign that many investors aren’t participating in the market and may still be skeptical about how well the economy is doing.
The losses Tuesday for the Dow and S&P 500 were the second this month. The earlier loss Sept. 7 was triggered after news reports questioned the health of European banks.
September is generally a weak month for stocks, but this year has been an exception. Even after Tuesday’s losses, the Dow is still up 5.1 percent in September, but it’s 6.1 percent below its 2010 high reached April 26. So far this year, it’s up 0.9 percent.
