NEW YORK: Stocks fell Tuesday, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 index its biggest decline since June 24, as retailers’ results disappointed and trade data fueled concern the Federal Reserve may reduce its bond purchases this year.
American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and CVS Caremark Corp. slumped more than 2.8 percent. Newmont Mining Corp. lost 6.5 percent as gold tumbled. International Business Machines Corp. retreated 2.3 percent after requiring most U.S. employees in its hardware division to take a week off amid slowing demand. Washington Post Co. rallied 4.3 percent as Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos agreed to buy its newspaper assets.
The S&P 500 fell 9.77 points to 1,697.37, or 0.6 percent, extending Monday’s loss after a record high last week. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 93.39 points, or 0.6 percent, to 15,518.74. About 5.6 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 12 percent below the three-month average.
“Certainly some of the move is due to increased concern about tapering due to the very strong trade number,” wrote Paul Zemsky, head of asset allocation for ING Investment Management, which oversees $180 billion in assets.