SAN FRANCISCO – U.S. stocks ended lower Tuesday, losing steam gained from reports showing solid growth for car sales and factory orders as investors anticipated the jobs report at the end of the week.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 42.55 points, or 0.3 percent, at 14,932.41, with shares of General Electric Co. and Boeing Co. the index's worst performers.
The Standard & Poor's 500 slipped 0.88 point to close at 1,614.08. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.09 points to finish at 3,433.40, even though Apple Inc. shares finished the day up 2.3 percent.
With the short holiday week and trading volume down, don't place a lot of weight behind market swings right now, said Paul Nolte, managing director at Dearborn Partners.
Ever since comments made by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in late May brought stocks off their nominal highs, the market has been looking for a stabilizing force, and that will likely be earnings season, which begins next week, he said.
"We're still in a corrective phase that'll end with the beginning of earnings," Nolte said.
Volume should be relatively light this week, with many traders taking vacations around Thursday's July 4th holiday. Besides shutting down Thursday for the holiday, U.S. stock markets will close early Wednesday, at noon Central time.
Stocks started edging down after New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley spoke Tuesday. Dudley reiterated that market fears about rate increases are misplaced when it comes to the Fed's intentions to scale back on asset purchases as the economy improves. But that reassurance did little to appease the market.
