NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stocks dipped lower Monday, unable to build on last week's gains, as investors seeking signs of economic recovery came up short.
Deere & Co. and Toshiba became the latest companies to announce job cuts while Manpower, the staffing firm, offered a downbeat outlook about hiring trends.
And sales of previously owned homes showed surprising weakness last month, a sign of weakness in one of the economy's few strong spots.
The trendless market action amid light trading volume contrasts with Friday, when an upbeat forecast from Cisco Systems helped hand Wall Street a rare winning week.
"There doesn't seem to be much follow-through," Ted Weisberg, trader at Seaport Securities, told CNNfn's Market Call, "We're stuck in a range, drifting."
The Nasdaq composite index dipped 4.38 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,912.42, while the Dow Jones industrial average lost 40.82, or 0.4 percent, to 10,385.12. The Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 5.71 to 1,179.22.
Barry Hyman, chief investment strategist at Ehrenkrantz King Nussbaum, said that to go higher, Wall Street needs more evidence that the business outlook is improving.
"I want to see more comments from the CEO saying things are stabilizing," Hyman told CNNfn's Before Hours. "The market has its test coming in the next four-to-six weeks."
More stocks fell than rose. On the New York Stock Exchange, declining issues topped advancing ones 1,751 to 1,361 as 836 million shares traded. Nasdaq losers topped winners 2,026 to 1,607 as 1.19 billion shares traded – the Nasdaq market's fourth lightest full-day trading session of the year.
In other markets, the dollar rose against the euro and dipped against the yen. Treasury securities ended lower.
No bounce
Cisco Systems (CSCO: down $0.24 to $18.01, Research, Estimates) gave back some of its gains from last week, when the computer networker signaled that business is not getting worse.
Other large technology companies also fell, including Sun Microsystems (SUNW: down $0.47 to $14.50, Research, Estimates) and Oracle (ORCL: down $0.26 to $14.93, Research, Estimates).
But Microsoft (MSFT: up $0.26 to $62.31, Research, Estimates) rose. The software maker said it will delay the Japanese launch of its Xbox game console to Feb. 22 from an initially planned debut late this year.
Still, new data from staffing firm Manpower indicated that U.S. companies are planning more job cuts than they did last year.
Toshiba said it plans to cut staff by 10 percent, or about 19,000 people, while Deere & Co. (DE: down $0.04 to $43.91, Research, Estimates) also announced payroll reductions and said it plans to stop producing Homelite trimmers, blowers and chain saws for consumer use.
Press reports said JP Morgan (JPM: up $0.17 to $41.10, Research, Estimates) is set to start a third round of job cuts.
They join Ford Motor Co., Hughes Electronics and Corning in announcing payroll reductions to save money amid slowing demand.
Centillium Communications (CTLM: up $1.98 to $13.51, Research, Estimates) bucked the trend. The designer and marketer of integrated circuits for digital subscriber line equipment said it's on track to meet third-quarter financial guidance.
According to a Realtors' report Monday, sales of existing homes dipped to an annualized rate of 5.17 million units in July, down 3 percent and weaker than expectations. Still, the housing market has held up well this year, in contrast to the weakness in manufacturing, business spending and the stock market.
On Friday, the government said sales of new homes in the United States jumped 4.9 percent in July.
The week brings other important data on consumer confidence, gross domestic product and personal income and spending. Factory orders and jobless claims round out the list.
Still, trading volume could continue to be light during August's last week, a popular time for summer vacations.
"I think we are going to edge higher this week, but it's going to be really boring," Don Luskin, CEO of the Luskin Report, told CNNfn's Market Call.
The Federal Reserve last week cut interest rates for the seventh time this year, taking the overnight lending rate between banks to its lowest level since 1994.
But lower rates have not prodded businesses to boost the capital spending that investors are looking for.
"We assume that will begin to happen during the first half of next year," Bruce Steinberg, chief economist at Merrill Lynch, wrote in a note to clients Monday. Steinberg expects another rate cut by the Fed in October. 
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