Stocks fall on strong dollar, consumer fears
U.S. stocks fell broadly on Thursday as a stronger dollar weighed on commodity-linked shares and a guarded outlook from Wal-Mart Stores Inc
The greenback's rise helped push oil futures, which are denominated in dollars, down by 3 percent and caused energy shares to fall. The S&P integrated oil and gas index <.GSPOILI> fell 1.5 percent.
Shares of Hess Corp
As the S&P 500 has gone above 1,100, it has had a hard time holding on to gains, said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Shelton, Connecticut.
In order to get to the next level up, it does need a strong catalyst, and most of the time the stronger dollar has been a negative for the market.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 91.98 points, or 0.89 percent, to 10,199.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> dropped 10.93 points, or 0.99 percent, to 1,087.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> lost 16.13 points, or 0.74 percent, to 2,150.77.
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, reported a higher quarterly profit and its shares rose 0.5 percent to $53.24, but it forecast earnings for the key holiday quarter that could miss Wall Street's consensus estimate.
Concern about consumer spending weighed on the S&P retail index <.RLX>, which fell 0.8 percent.
Helping to limit losses, Advanced Micro Systems Inc
Advanced Micro was the among the most traded stocks on the New York Stock Exchange
Network equipment maker 3Com Corp
Shares of Brocade Communications Systems Inc
Shares of insurers and banks were also among top laggards, with the S&P financial sector index <.GSPF> down 1.8 percent.
Volume was light on the New York Stock Exchange with 1.05 billion shares changing hands, below last year's estimated daily average of 1.49 billion. On the Nasdaq, about 2.22 billion shares traded, slightly below last year's daily average of 2.28 billion.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a ratio of about 4 to 1, while on the Nasdaq nearly 10 stocks fell for every three that rose.
(Editing by Kenneth Barry)
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