DOW - Breaking free from 11,000 may not be easier?

DOW closing 10,782.95 -113.96 -1.05%

Stocks spent most of the session mired in negative territory with a modest loss after they failed to push past a key technical hurdle, but losses quickly steepened as sellers redoubled their efforts in the final hour of trade.


The tone for most of the session was relatively tepid as buyers took a breather after they had sent the stock market up more than 5% higher during the course of the three previous sessions. That streak of gains put the S&P 500 face-to-face with its 50-day moving average, but a lack of positive catalysts made it difficult for the stock market to challenge the technical line with any sort of conviction.

The only economic data for the day was a lackluster weekly jobless claims report, which featured 444,000 initial claims and 4.63 million continuing claims. The initial claims tally was in-line with expectations and the continuing claims count was a bit higher than expected, but both remain at heightened levels.