Stocks slip on debt talks
NEW YORK — Stock indexes closed slightly lower Monday as talks dragged on between Greek political leaders over a fresh cost-cutting package required for the country to get more bailout loans.
On an otherwise quiet day, energy stocks were among the few to rise. Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Schlumberger each rose 1 percent.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Greek leaders that they need to push through the measures or risk letting the country go bankrupt.
In Greece, talks between the prime minister and leaders of parties backing his coalition government were postponed for a day, even as European leaders prodded the government to push through new spending cuts, layoffs and other austerity measures.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 17.10 points to close at 12,845.13. Travelers Cos. Inc. led the Dow lower with a 1.3 percent loss.
In other trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 0.57 of a point to 1,344.33. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.67 points to 2,901.99.
Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ, said he believes investors are starting to wonder if the stock market’s recent stretch of calm trading is a prelude to a big drop. Trading has turned subdued compared with the wild swings of 2011. The S&P has closed up or down by more than 1 percent only three times this year. In December, that happened nine times.
“I look at it like a very-low-tide warning of an impending tsunami,” Stovall said. “We’re setting ourselves up for a decline, the sort of decline that would make you sit up and take notice.”
Large gains in the market, like the Dow’s 156-point surge Friday, are often followed by relatively modest moves as traders pull some of their winnings off the table. Since 1950, whenever the S&P rose by 1 percent or more in a trading day, the index has inched up an average of just 0.1 percent the next day, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Other big moves:
BOEING: It fell 1.2 percent following reports that the company found a problem in its 787 Dreamliner.
The aircraft maker said it was working to fix it and that there was no safety concern.
MICRON TECHNOLOGY: It fell 2.8 percent following news that the chip maker’s CEO died in a plane crash. Steve Appleton, 51, was at the helm for 18 years, leading the only company he’d ever worked for.
HUMANA: It dropped 5.4 percent. The health insurance company reported revenue that fell short of analysts’ expectations. Humana also raised its earnings outlook for 2012 but that, too, was below analysts’ forecast.