Major Averages End Lower Again
Updated from 4:02 p.m. EDT
Stocks closed lower Monday as bargain-hunters failed to materialize even after last week's bloodletting on Wall Street.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average ended with a loss of 90.85 points, or 0.9%, to 9819.87. The
Nasdaq fell 6.96 points, or 0.4%, to 1656.93, and the
S&P 500 was off 10.87 points, or 1%, to 1065.45.
U.S. stocks fell Monday after a week in which the Dow lost 3.4% and the Nasdaq gave up 7.4%. The decline in stocks on Friday came in part because a survey showed
consumer sentiment was weaker than analysts had predicted. Even a report revealing that first-quarter
gross domestic product rose a blistering 5.8% couldn't save the averages from the sellers.
On Monday, though, the Commerce Department said consumer spending rose 0.4% to $7.29 trillion in March following a 0.6% gain in February. Personal income also grew 0.4% in March to $8.92 trillion, compared with a 0.6% increase a month earlier.
In corporate news, one stock that tried but failed to keep the Dow afloat was
Boeing
(BA) - Get Report
. Analysts at Merrill Lynch raised their investment rating on Boeing to strong buy from buy and added the stock to the firm's focus list, sending shares of the aircraft manufacturing giant up 5.1% to $43.63. An upbeat report in
Barron's
also contributed to optimism on the stock.
A big merger in the health care sector made headlines, as insurance provider
Anthem
(ATH) - Get Report
agreed to acquire
Trigon Healthcare
(TGH) - Get Report
for $4 billion in cash and stock. The company also reported first-quarter earnings that beat expectations. Anthem fell 5.7% to $66.65, but Trigon gained 17.4% to $98.87.
Elsewhere in the drug arena, research and development outfit
Genta
( GNTA) rose 9% to $12.78 after the company signed a partnership deal with
Aventis
( AVE), but the stock traded as high as $16.40 earlier in the session. Under the terms of the deal, Aventis will pay up to $480 million in cash, equity, milestones and convertible debt to Genta.
Meanwhile, Canadian pharmaceutical firm
Biovail
( BVF) fell 21% to $36.80 as investors fretted over signs of weakness in its first-quarter earnings report issued last week. Banc of America put a sell rating on the stock.
Retail giant
Wal-Mart
(WMT) - Get Report
ticked up 0.7% after the company reaffirmed its April sales forecast despite enduring a difficult weak due to poor weather conditions. Overall, the chain-store sector was under pressure along with the broader market, as the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index finished down 0.6%.
U.S. Treasury issues were lower. Around 4 p.m. EDT, the 10-year note was losing 15/32 at 98 5/32, yielding 5.12%.
Overseas markets were mixed. London's FTSE 100 shed 0.1% to 5154, but Germany's Xetra DAX inched up 0.2% to 5008. Hong Kong's Hang Seng tacked on 0.2% to 11,361, and Japan's markets were closed.
