STOCK MARKET WATCH - Tuesday, 31 January 2012

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48. Dow Poised for Longest Slump Since August

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-31/u-s-stock-index-futures-advance-as-eu-members-adopt-stricter-budget-rules.html

U.S. stocks reversed gains, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average toward its longest decline since August, as reports showed consumer confidence trailed economists’ estimates and business activity cooled.

Energy and transportation shares slumped at least 0.8 percent among 24 groups in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the largest energy company by market value, dropped 2.3 percent amid lower-than-forecast sales. United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), the biggest package-delivery company which is considered a proxy for the economy, slid 1.5 percent after reporting sales that missed analysts’ projections.

The S&P 500 declined 0.3 percent to 1,308.52 at 10:53 a.m. New York time, reversing a gain of as much as 0.6 percent. The Dow retreated 70.16 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,583.56.

“People are on the fence with respect to whether we accelerate in economic terms and slow down again,” John Carey, a Boston-based money manager at Pioneer Investments, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about $220 billion. “We’d like to see better economic growth for sure,” he said. The European crisis “is maybe something that we’ll have to live with. It’s just never ending.”