Stocks Extend Recent Losses - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Wall Street suffered another day of losses during Friday's session, extending the sharp sell off that took place the previous day. Stocks saw gains early in the session, but confidence waned late in the day and the major averages drifted into negative territory during the afternoon.

Worries about the outlook for the Federal Reserve's stimulus program have weighed on stocks lately. On Friday, retailers were among the drags on the market, after Nordstrom (JWN) gave a cautious outlook with its quarterly results.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 30.72 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 15,081.47. The Nasdaq slipped 3.34 points, or 0.1 percent, to end at 3,602.78. The S&P 500 retreated 5.49 points, or 0.3 percent, to finish at 1,655.83.

The economy remained in focus on Friday. Thursday's sharp sell off was in part caused by a negative reaction to a barrage of economic statistics. New data impacted trading on the final day of the week as well, with reports issued on the housing market, on productivity and on consumer sentiment.

Consumer sentiment moderated from the six-year high seen at the end of July. The Reuters/University Of Michigan consumer sentiment index slipped to 80.0 for mid-August from the reading of 85.1 recorded in previous report.

A separate report showed that productivity rose in the second quarter, climbing by 0.9 percent. This according to statistics released by the U.S. Labor Department.

The advance followed declines in the two previous quarters. Revised figures showed 1.7 percent slides in both the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, new home construction advanced in July, according to new government figures. Housing starts rose 5.9 percent for the month to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 896,000.

In corporate news, Nordstrom was in the spotlight on Friday. The high-end retailer revealed earnings for its latest quarter that rose from last year. However, the company trimmed its sales forecast for fiscal 2013.

Shares of Nordstrom fell $2.90 on the session, or 4.9 percent. The stock closed at $56.43.

Meanwhile, Dell's (DELL) profit dropped 72 percent in the second quarter. The computer maker suffered from a general PC slum. Earnings did come in above analysts' expectations.

Shares of Dell eked out a gain of 12 cents to finish at $13.82.

Looking to overseas markets, European stocks, which closed during mid-day trading on Wall Street, when the major averages in the U.S. were still showing mild gains, generally gained ground on the session.

France advanced 0.8 percent. Germany climbed 0.2 percent. And the U.K. pushed higher by 0.3 percent.

In Asia, stocks fell broadly, as investors there reacted to U.S. economic news. Japan's Nikkei average fell 0.8 percent to 13,650 in relatively thin trading.

China's Shanghai Composite index closed 0.6 percent lower after surging as much as 5.6 percent at one point due to a trading glitch.