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Source: http://finance.yahoo.com

Stocks started the session in higher ground, but stumbled as a lack of leadership kept the broader market from countering a rebound by the dollar. In turn, the S&P 500 saw its recent streak of gains come to an end.

Participants returned to Tuesday's trade willing to extend the previous session's modest advance. That enabled the S&P 500 to open at its 52-week high with broad-based gains. This session's lack of leadership caught up with stocks, though. As the Dollar Index swung from a morning loss of roughly 0.5% to a gain of 0.3%, the broader equity market slipped into negative territory, unable to rally behind a leader.

The stock market edged lower Tuesday, breaking a six-day advance as reports on home prices and consumer confidence did little to excite buyers.

Major indexes rose modestly in the early going but slipped as the dollar strengthened and tugged on commodities prices. A stronger dollar makes commodities more expensive for foreign buyers.

Trading was quiet, as it has been in recent days, and many investors left at the end of the day for a long New Year's weekend. The low volume held the Dow Jones industrial average to a 36-point range, the narrowest in nearly three years. The modest losses came after stocks had risen for six straight days.

The NYSE DOW closed LOWER -1.67 points -0.02% on Tuesday December 29

Sym. Last......... ........Change.......... 

Dow 10,545.41 -1.67 -0.02% 

Nasdaq 2,288.40 -2.68 -0.12% 

S&P 500 1,126.19 -1.59 -0.14% 

30-yr Bond 4.6870% +0.0840 

 

NYSE Volume 2,822,345,250  (prior 3,141,947,750)

Nasdaq Volume 1,198,968,750  (prior 1,249,055,250)

Europe

Symbol.... Last...... .....Change.......

FTSE 100 5,437.61 +35.20 +0.65% 

DAX 6,011.55 +8.63 +0.14% 

CAC 40 3,959.98 +12.83 +0.33% 

Asia

Symbol...... Last...... .....Change.......

Nikkei 225 10,638.06 +3.83 +0.04%  

Hang Seng 21,499.44 +19.22 +0.09%  

Straits Times 2,869.76 +14.08 +0.49% 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stocks-slip-to-break-sixday-apf-841022312.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

Stocks slip to break six-day winning streak

Stocks break winning streak as investors shrug off gains in consumer confidence, home prices

 By Sara Lepro and Tim Paradis, AP Business Writers , On Tuesday December 29, 2009, 5:28 pm

NEW YORK (AP) -- The stock market edged lower Tuesday, breaking a six-day advance as reports on home prices and consumer confidence did little to excite buyers.

Major indexes rose modestly in the early going but slipped as the dollar strengthened and tugged on commodities prices. A stronger dollar makes commodities more expensive for foreign buyers.

Trading was quiet, as it has been in recent days, and many investors left at the end of the day for a long New Year's weekend. The low volume held the Dow Jones industrial average to a 36-point range, the narrowest in nearly three years. The modest losses came after stocks had risen for six straight days.

Economic reports looked stronger but failed to galvanize investors. The Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence rose to 52.9 in December from 49.5 in November. That was slightly better than economists had forecast.

The index remains well below what is considered healthy. A reading of 90 or more signals a solid economy. However, the index has jumped from a historic low of 25.3 in February.

Home prices also rose. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller's home price index rose for a fifth straight month in October, edging up 0.4 percent. The index was off 7.3 percent from October last year, roughly in line with expectations.

Analysts said there were few surprises in the economic numbers to drive the market.

"The reports we're seeing broadly reinforce the expectations we've had," said Jim Baird, partner and chief investment strategist for Plante Moran Financial Advisors in Kalamazoo, Mich. "It's slow and steady; It's not explosive improvement."

The Dow slipped 1.67, or less than 0.1 percent, to 10,545.41. The trading range was the tightest since February 2007 and the fifth straight day when the index has swung by fewer than 70 points.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.58, or 0.1 percent, to 1,126.20, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 2.68, or 0.1 percent, to 2,288.40.

Interest rates fell after a successful auction of $42 billion of five-year notes. The Treasury Department is issuing $118 billion in debt this week as part of its efforts to fund its stimulus programs. With so much debt flooding the market, there's been concern this year that demand would diminish. Most auctions though have been able to attract decent demand.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which is used as a benchmark for consumer loans, fell to 3.80 percent from 3.85 percent late Monday.

The dollar reversed an early slide and moved higher against other currencies.

Oil rose 10 cents to settle at $78.87 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The stronger dollar held oil below $79. Gold fell.

Tim Speiss, chairman of Personal Wealth Advisors practice at Eisner LLP in New York, said he expects to see the market build on its recent gains at the start of the new year and through the first quarter.

"We're going to be building momentum," he said.

Falling stocks narrowly outpaced those that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a light 638.3 million shares.

In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 0.57, or 0.1 percent, to 633.18.

Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.7 percent, Germany's DAX index added 0.1 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.3 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average inched up less than 0.1 percent.