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Apr 14, 2008 4:26 pm US/Eastern
Stocks Close Slightly Lower Amid Earning Concerns
NEW YORK (AP) ―
Stocks finished a quiet session moderately lower Monday as investors grappled with concerns about the health of corporate profits after Wachovia Corp. posted disappointing quarterly results.
Investors appeared to be pausing following a sell-off Friday and ahead of a raft of quarterly results and economic data arriving this week.
Wachovia surprised investors by posting a first-quarter loss of $393 million and cut its quarterly dividend by 41 percent to 37.5 cents. The bank, which analysts had expected to post a profit, also said it plans to raise $7 billion through a stock offering.
But investors appeared to find some encouragement in the session from a better-than-expected report on retail sales. The Commerce Department's reading on March retail sales, which showed a modest 0.2 percent rise following February's 0.6 percent decline, appeared to quell some unease about the economy. The March figure bested the flat reading analysts had predicted. Excluding a 1.1 percent rise at gasoline service stations, retail sales would have been flat last month -- and possibly negative when adjusted for inflation.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 23.36, or 0.19 percent, to 12,302.06.
Broader stock indicators also declined. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4.51, or 0.34 percent, to 1,328.32, and the technology-laden Nasdaq composite index fell 14.42, or 0.63 percent, to 2,275.82.
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