Stocks in U.S. Retreat as Oil Rally, Libya Violence Damp Economic Optimism

[Purveyor]

By Nikolaj Gammeltoft and Inyoung Hwang

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell, with technology and consumer-discretionary companies leading declines in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as oil resumed its advance above $105 a barrel amid growing violence in Libya.

Walt Disney Co. and Cisco Systems Inc. lost more than 1.7 percent to lead declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. JDS Uniphase Corp. and Micron Technology Inc. slid more than 5 percent for the biggest declines in the S&P 500.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.6 percent to 1,313.79 at 11:07 a.m. in New York after climbing 0.5 percent earlier as crude retreated from its high of the day of almost $107. Oil for April delivery recently was up 1.2 percent to $105.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 38.45 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,131.43.

“Geopolitical concerns and the price of oil are the major things driving the market in the short-term,” said John Kattar, chief investment officer at Eastern Investment Advisors in Boston, which manages $1.7 billion. “It’s very volatile with the news flow being so dominated by the Middle East. Add to that an overbought market and concerns about the end of quantitative easing in June.”

The S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent on March 4, trimming a weekly advance, as the surge in oil fueled concern consumer spending may slow as Labor Department data showed average hourly earnings were unchanged last month.

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http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adSV2PD2oPWE&pos=1

[Turbineguy]

1. CNBC pundits jawboning

the markets down too. Investors are worried. Investors? There are no investors. There are traders and speculators.

[girl gone mad]

3. You're just not measuring things in robot time.

What appears to be microsecond frontrunning to human eyes is actually a long-term investment strategy to a high frequency trading program.

[bemildred]

2. Stocks are so unreliable, first they go up, then they crash. nt

[vicarofrevelwood]

4. Watch the pols jump into action to protect the rich from poverty.

:banghead: