Wall St edges lower as investors seek next big catalyst

By Angela Moon

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged lower on Thursday, coming off their record highs, as signs of improvement in the latest data on the labor market was not enough of a catalyst to add to the recent upward momentum.

Financials and technology stocks, which were market leaders for the past couple of days, were among the top decliners as profit-taking took place.

The S&P 500 financial sector index was off 0.5 percent and the info technology sector fell 0.3 percent.

Data showed weekly jobless claims fell to a five-year low but market reaction was muted with Wall Street coming off a sustained rally that took the S&P 500 to record closing highs for five straight sessions.

 

"We've had such a consistent upward move that investors need some real new news to keep the momentum going," said Rick Meckler, president of hedge fund LibertyView Capital Management LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey.

"The jobless claims were a good number but not enough of a new news. Investors want to see really something that shows a good pick up in the economic activity."

The market's uptrend has been boosted by strong corporate earnings and an accommodative monetary environment from the Federal Reserve, which analysts say makes stocks cheaper than other asset classes on a valuation basis. Investors have used any market declines in 2013 as a buying opportunity.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 14.86 points, or 0.10 percent, at 15,090.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 3.21 points, or 0.20 percent, at 1,629.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 4.27 points, or 0.13 percent, at 3,409.00.

The S&P 500 has climbed about 14.2 percent so far this year, while the Dow has advanced about 15.1 percent and the Nasdaq has gained 13 percent. Still, the market remains below overbought territory, with the relative strength index on the S&P slightly below 70.

While moves have been slight this week - the S&P rose just 0.5 percent on its strongest day - the three major U.S. stock indexes have ended sessions higher than where they began, an indication that positive momentum will continue. Trading volumes have been below average, however, which could indicate a lack of conviction.

Shares of Barnes & Noble Inc jumped 20 percent to $21.38, after hitting a fresh 52-week high after web publication TechCrunch reported that Microsoft Corp was considering an offer to acquire all of Nook Media's digital assets for $1 billion.

Microsoft shares were down 1.1 percent at $32.62.

Tesla Motors Inc jumped nearly 20 percent to $66.47 a day after posting adjusted earnings that were three times what analysts were expecting as the company sold more cars than it had initially forecast.

News Corp reported earnings late Wednesday that beat expectations while revenue rose 14 percent. Rupert Murdoch's media company also said it was on track to split off its slow-growing publishing business by the end of June. Shares rose 4.3 percent to $33.22.

Groupon Inc posted revenue growth of 7.5 percent in the first quarter, more than analysts had expected. Shares jumped 13 percent to $6.31.

With about 440 S&P 500 components having reported, earnings have largely been better than expected this quarter, with the majority of companies surpassing estimates. Still, most companies have missed revenue expectations.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Nick Zieminski)