U.S. stocks slide for week on cautious investor sentiment

U.S. stocks declined for the holiday-shortened week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapping a seven-week winning streak, as Wall Street became cautious ahead of the Dow's psychologically key 20,000 mark.

U.S. stock markets were closed Monday for the Christmas holiday and will be closed next Monday for the New Year holiday. Trading volume was thin at the last week of 2016 as many traders were away from their desks for the holidays.

U.S. equities posted solid gains after the Election Day on a so-called "Trump Rally" as analysts believed that Trump's economic policies were bullish for the stock market.

The Dow had been flirting with the milestone of 20,000 points during the last two weeks. However, investors were becoming cautious and looking for excuses to lock in profit after recent solid gains.

On Friday, the last trading day of 2016, all three major indices fell for a third straight session, after the Nasdaq Composite Index eked out a new closing record on Tuesday.

On the economic front, U.S. pending home sales tumbled in November to their lowest level in nearly a year as the brisk upswing in mortgage rates and not enough inventory dispirited some would-be buyers.

The Pending Home Sales Index dropped 2.5 percent from October reading of 110.0 to 107.3 in November, well below market consensus of a 0.5-percent gain.

The international trade deficit was up 3.4 billion U.S. dollars from 61.9 billion dollar in October to 65.3 billion dollars in November, exceeding markets estimates.

In the week ending Dec. 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 265,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 275,000, said the Labor Department Thursday.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index came in at 113.7 in December, up from 109.4 in November.

No Federal Reserve official spoke during the week.

In a weekly basis, the blue-chip Dow decreased 0.9 percent, and the broader S&P 500 dropped 1.1 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 1.5 percent.

For the year of 2016, all three major indices witnessed solid gains, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq surging 13.4 percent, 9.5 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively. Endit