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U.S. stocks retreat slightly from records amid soft data

Xinhua, February 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks drifted lower amid weak economic data in the morning session Monday, as investors shifted their focus from Greek concerns to expectations of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's remarks in the next two days.

At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 35.01 points, or 0.19 percent, to 18,105.43. The S&P 500 fell 2.54 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,107.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 1.52 points, or 0.03 percent, to 4,954.45.

U.S. existing-home sales declined in January to their lowest rate in nine months, according to the National Association of Realtors. Total existing-home sales fell 4.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million in January from an upwardly-revised 5.07 million in December.

Greece won some time and breathing space after bridging arrangement was reached Friday with its eurozone creditors. The progress pushed away scenarios of an imminent Grexit, but more tough challenges lie ahead.

"The loan extension Greece negotiated with creditors last Friday bought four months to negotiate a longer-term deal, but Greece isn't out of the woods yet. Greece has until the end of the day today to draw up proposals to execute the agreement," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Wall Street was keeping a watchful eye on Yellen's semi-annual testimony to Congress Tuesday and Wednesday. Although many consider last week's Fed minutes as dovish, some analysts believe Yellen will likely imply that a June rate hike is still on the table.

In corporate news, Apple Inc. announced a plan to spend 1.9 billion dollars to build two new European data centers, with one in Ireland, and the other in Denmark. The plan is the tech giant's largest investment ever. Its shares gained 1.73 percent around midday Monday.

Shares of HSBC dropped over 4 percent after the Europe's biggest bank reported its profit before tax for 2014 was 18.7 billion U.S. dollars, down 17 percent from 2013.

U.S. stocks surged Friday, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 refreshing their record highs, as the eurozone and Greece reached an agreement over a four-month extension to its bailout. Endite