- 28Oct
(Reuters) - Stocks fell on Thursday, as 3M dragged industrial shares lower and investors shied away from big bets ahead of the Federal Reserve's expected monetary easing.
An unexpected drop in new claims for unemployment benefits boosted stocks early as did a weak dollar, but the inverse relationship between the greenback and stocks appeared to break down. Mixed earnings also added to the choppy action.
"The more the market goes up, the more apprehensive investors are to continue to add risk," said Alan Lancz, president at Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc in Toledo, Ohio.
Lancz said that with the looming Fed statement and the U.S. elections next week, investors "may prune some risk and take some profits as the market has appreciated quite a bit over the past two months."
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dipped 26.00 points, or 0.23 percent, to 11,100.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was off 1.02 points, or 0.09 percent, to 1,181.43. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXICeased 6.90 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,496.36.
Since the beginning of September, the S&P 500 is up almost 13 percent.
On the downside, 3M Co (MMM.N) fell 5.2 percent to $85.65 after it shaved 6 cents off its full-year profit forecast.
On the upside, Motorola Inc (MOT.N) gained 5.3 percent to $8.52 after its mobile devices business posted a quarterly profit. Dow component Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) added nearly 1 percent to $66.21 as earnings beat expectations.
The Nasdaq fared worse than the other two indexes as Research In Motion Ltd (RIM.TO)(RIMM.O) fell 2.3 percent to $54.55 after Oppenheimer cut the stock to "perform" from "outperform."
Anticipation of a Fed move has been a driver of recent market action as investors speculated over the size and time frame of further stimulus. Equity investors have bet that more easing will invigorate an economic recovery and lift asset prices.
Most leading economists expected the Fed to buy between $80 billion and $100 billion in assets per month under a new program to bolster the struggling economy, a Reuters poll found.
