Stocks on Wall Street fell for the last day of the month, though investors had already booked solid gains from the best September in 71 years.The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 7.7% for the month, bringing the quarter's advance to more than 1
Stocks on Wall Street fell for the last day of the month, though investors had already booked solid gains from the best September in 71 years.
The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 7.7% for the month, bringing the quarter’s advance to more than 10%.
The Dow closed 47.23 points down, or 0.4%, at 10,788.05. Caterpillar led the declines, falling 1.6% on fears legislation targeting China's currency policy could make it harder for materials and other multinational companies to do business there.
Johnson & Johnson was also weak, shedding 0.6% after federal regulators said the health-care company should have moved sooner to recall some Motrin pills the company discovered were defective in late 2008.
US economic data was largely positive. Weekly jobless claims fell more than expected and the government slightly revised upward its estimate of second-quarter gross domestic product.
The closely-watched Chicago purchasing managers' index was 60.4 in September, higher than the 56.0 reading expected by economists.
But a manufacturing report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's district showed that while there was improvement from August, conditions are still weak, especially when it comes to employment.
The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.3% to 2368.62 and the S&P 500 index was also down 0.3% at 1144.20.
Other markets: Europe down, Asia mixed
European stock markets declined on sovereign-debt concerns and profit-taking from the substantial market rise in markets in September.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index ended down 0.5% to 259.72 but gained 3.3% for the month.
The UK's FTSE 100 index lost 0.4% to 5548.62, but adding for 6.2% for the month. France's CAC-40 index fell 0.6% to 3715.18 and Germany's DAX declined 0.3% to 6229.02.
Major Asian markets ended mostly down with Japanese shares tumbling as the yen rallied against the US dollar. Nintendo Co. plunged after slashing its profit forecasts. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 2% to 9369.35.
Chinese shares rebounded to end sharply higher as property developers soared a day after Beijing introduced tightening measures that weren't as harsh as some feared. The Shanghai Composite gained 1.7% to 2655.66.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.3% to 4582.91, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.1% to 22,358.17, Korea's Kospi added 0.3% to 1872.81, Taiwan's Taiex ended little changed at 8237.78 and India's Sensex added 0.6% to 20,069.12.
Commodities: Oil up, gold down
Crude futures moved higher, helped by improving economic data and falling fuel inventories.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery traded $US1.50, or 1.9%, higher at $US79.36 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded $US1.50 higher at $US82.27 a barrel.
Gold futures erased earlier gains as participants sought to cash in on the metal's record prices.
The most-actively traded gold contract for December delivery was down $7.40, or 0.6%, at $US1302.90 an ounce in New York. Earlier, the contract hit $US1317.50, the strongest ever intraday price for a most-active contract.
Currencies: Dollar, yen up
The US dollar reversed early gains on a slew of positive economic data. The euro was at $US1.3616, compared with $US1.3629 late on Wednesday.
The dollar weakened to ¥83.45 from ¥83.65. The euro weakened to ¥113.63 from ¥114.07. The UK pound weakened to $US1.5723 from $US1.5784.
The dollar strengthened to 0.9808 Swiss franc from 0.9770 franc.
