Wall Street dips early but uptrend seen intact

If the S&P closes with a move of less than 0.5% on Tuesday, it will mark the 15th straight session it has done so, the longest such run since Feb 1969

US stocks were lower in early trading on Tuesday, as investors found few reasons to push equities higher in the wake of a rally that has sent the benchmark S&P index to repeated records.

The S&P 500 was on track for its fifth decline out of the past six sessions, though recent moves have been slight. If the S&P closes with a move of less than 0.5% on Tuesday, it will mark the 15th straight session it has done so, the longest such run since February 1969, according to MKM Partners.

Wall Street's recent uptrend is still viewed as intact, however, as accommodative monetary policy from central banks creates an environment that is viewed as positive for equities.

"Right now we're in the same playbook we've been all year, where we hit a new high, consolidate for a week or so, and then march higher to another record," says Chris Bouffard, chief investment officer at the Mutual Fund Store in Kansas City, Missouri, which has $9 billion in assets under management.

"The only real strength in the global economy is coming from U.S. stocks, so we remain constructive."

Tuesday's decline was broad, with all of the 10 primary S&P 500 sectors lower on the day.

The Dow Jones industrial average was falling 86.07 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,025.35, the S&P 500 was losing 7.44 points, or 0.37 percent, to 1,994.1 and the Nasdaq Composite was dropping 15.21 points, or 0.33 percent, to 4,577.08.

The largest percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange was Annie's Inc, which was rising 37.26 percent, while the largest percentage decliner was MaxLinear Inc, down 14.48 percent.

Among the most active stocks on the NYSE were Bank of America, down 1.04 percent to $16.18; Petroleo Brasil, down 0.38 percent to $18.28 and Ford Motor Co, down 0.42 percent to $16.73.

On the Nasdaq, Yahoo Inc, down 0.1 percent to $41.76; Apple Inc, up 1.1 percent to $99.45 and Rada Electronic Industries, down 7.4 percent to $5.53 were among the most actively traded.

Declining issues were outnumbering advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,031 to 698, for a 2.91-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,711 issues were falling and 647 advancing for a 2.64-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The broad S&P 500 index was posting 8 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 29 new highs and 24 new lows.