NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The Dow Jones industrial average fell for the second straight session Monday, hurt by Microsoft, which plunged as hopes faded for a quick antitrust settlement between the software maker and the government.
Big losses in American Express, J.P. Morgan and Citigroup also plagued the Dow as investors unloaded some of last week's best-performing stocks.
The Nasdaq composite index, meanwhile, edged lower to break a four-day winning streak as Microsoft's losses offset gains in Yahoo!, Qualcomm and Sun Microsystems.
Still, analysts called the trading day a quiet one - a welcome development after last week's Federal Reserve interest-rate hike and ahead of next month's start to first-quarter earnings reporting season.
"I think the market needed to pause," Gail Dudack, market strategist at Warburg Dillon Read, told CNN's Street Sweep.
The Dow slipped 86.87 points to 11,025.85, building on Friday's 7.14 loss. 
The tech-heavy Nasdaq, meanwhile, fell 4.47 to 4,958.56.
The broader S&P 500 dropped 3.60 to 1,523.86.
Not surprisingly, more stocks fell than rose. Declining issues on the New York Stock Exchange beat advancing ones 1,694 to 1,288. Trading volume topped 879 million shares. Nasdaq losers beat winners 2,324 to 1,885, with more than 1.4 billion shares changing hands. 
In other markets, the dollar rose against the euro but remained little changed versus the yen.
Treasury securities edged lower.
Settlement in jeopardy?
Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) fell 7-5/8 to 104-1/16 as doubts intensified over the software maker's progress in reaching an antitrust settlement with the government. Department of Justice lawyers concluded that a recent settlement offer by the software maker was inadequate, according to published reports.
"It does look like they are not as close (to settling) as they were going to be," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co., said
More than 54 million shares changed hands, making Microsoft Nasdaq's most actively traded stock.
In other big losers, American Express (AXP: Research, Estimates) dropped 5-1/8 to 150-1/2, J.P. Morgan (JPM: Research, Estimates) plunged 5-11/16 to 131-1/8 and Citigroup (C: Research, Estimates) lost 9/16 to 60.
"I don't think it's anything other than profit taking," said Hogan, referring to the weakness in financials. "They really had a great two-week period."
Still, many of Nasdaq's best performers continued higher.
Yahoo! (YHOO: Research, Estimates) climbed 6-3/4 to 200-3/4, Sun Microsystems (SUNW: Research, Estimates) rose 4-3/4 to 105, and Qualcomm (QCOM: Research, Estimates) jumped 2-15/16 to 148-15/16.
Analysts said gains in these kinds of stocks -- all high flyers during the past three months -- come as institutions dress up portfolios to present clients with winning stocks at quarter's end.
"It wouldn't surprise me to see a little bit of a mark-up at the end of the week," said Joseph Barthel, chief investment strategist at Fahnestock & Co., referring to the last day of the first quarter. "They expect to do some type of window dressing...in the Nasdaq because that's where the strength is."
Similarly, Todd Eberhard, stock strategist at Eberhard Investment Associates, told CNN's In the Money that he expects record closes for the Nasdaq later this week as portfolio managers add its top performers. (261K WAV)(261K AIFF).
The first quarter ends Friday.
Ahead, Warburg Dillon Read's Dudack expects the market to rise by week's end. "The end of the month tends to have some of the best mutual fund flows," she said.
Waiting on OPEC
Leaders of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) adjourned their meeting in Vienna Monday with no agreement on boosting the global supply of oil. But cartel members pledged to resume talks Tuesday on raising production to avoid sparking inflation pressures in the West.
Perhaps anticipating an OPEC production climb, the price of crude oil for May delivery fell 23 cents to $27.29 a barrel.
In the day's largest deal, OpenTV Corp. (OPTV: Research, Estimates) plunged 39-31/32 to 129-1/32 after the maker of software for digital interactive television said Sunday it would buy Internet consultant and software provider Spyglass Inc. (SPYG: Research, Estimates) for about $2.5 billion in stock. Spyglass soared 12-1/2 to 82-3/8.
Waste Management (WMI: Research, Estimates) rose 11/16 to 14-1/4. The nation's biggest trash hauler posted lower-than-expected earnings before special items in its fiscal fourth quarter.
And Red Hat Inc. (RHAT: Research, Estimates) fell 3-7/8 to 56-5/8 after the Linux operating system provider reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss of $5.6 million, or 4 cents a share. 
|
