Dow, S&P fall for third straight day; retail weighs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and the S&P 500 fell for a third straight day on Tuesday, dropping from record levels in a broad decline as investors took profits amid signs of a weak holiday shopping season.

Retail and consumer discretionary stocks were among the weakest of the day. Amazon.com Inc slipped 2 percent to $384.66 and was one of the biggest drags on the S&P 500. The S&P retail index <.SPXRT> shed 0.8 percent after the holiday shopping season got off to a tepid start.

Earlier-than-usual online holiday discounts were expected to have dampened Cyber Monday sales in the United States. Still, data firm comScore forecast U.S. online sales to have hit $2 billion on "Cyber Monday," the highest since the firm began tracking such information.

"Retail sales have been mixed, and while I suspect they will be strong overall at the end of the season, right now, investors are looking for reasons to sell after the amazing returns we've seen over the past several weeks," said Joseph Tanious, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management in New York.

Equities have rallied recently, with the S&P 500 gaining for eight straight weeks and hitting a series of record highs. The benchmark index is up 25.9 percent so far this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 94.15 points, or 0.59 percent, to end at 15,914.62. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> declined 5.75 points, or 0.32 percent, to finish at 1,795.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> dropped 8.06 points, or 0.20 percent, to close at 4,037.20.

 

The S&P consumer discretionary sector index <.SPLRCD> fell 0.9 percent, despite stronger-than-expected November auto sales. Ford Motor shares slid 2.9 percent to $16.56 while General Motors dropped 2.5 percent to $38.14. Analysts said the declines in the automakers' stocks were linked to concerns that pent-up demand would no longer support the pace of sales gains beyond 2014.