NEW YORK - A late swoon erased a daylong stock rally Tuesday, highlighting investors' lingering jitters about several big economic announcements due over the next few days.
Strong earnings and consumer-confidence data kept major averages in positive territory through most of the session. But those gains fell apart in the last hour as sellers cashed out rather than risk sticking around for any nasty surprises.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 2.57 points at 10,194.29. The Nasdaq composite index was off 0.3 percent to 2,203.73. The S&P 500 was off 0.4 percentto 1,092.17, led by a 1.7 percent slide in its financial sector, which had traded in positive territory early in the day.
American International Group slid 6.5 percent, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell 2.7 percent, and J.P. Morgan Chase was down 2 percent.
Wall Street faces several big risks from events taking shape in Washington this week. Traders will digest hearings on the bailout of AIG, an interest-rate decision from the Federal Reserve, a reconfirmation battle for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and a State of the Union Address in which President Obama may offer new details on his proposal to restrict banks' speculative trading.
"People right now are trying to protect their gains in the financials, which have been the leading sector in the rally off last year's lows," said Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer Asset Management in New York. "They're worried about how big the bat will be that's being swung in Washington."
