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U.S. stocks decline amid economic data

Xinhua, April 3, 2017 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks ended lower Monday, the first trading day of the month and the second quarter, as investors digested a batch of economic reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 13.01 points, or 0.06 percent, to 20,650.21. The S&P 500 lost 3.88 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,358.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 17.06 points, or 0.29 percent, to 5,894.68.

The manufacturing index, also known as the purchasing managers index (PMI), registered 57.2 in March, above market estimates of 57 but a decrease of 0.5 percentage point from the previous month reading of 57.7, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said in a report on Monday.

"Another solid survey from U.S, manufacturers, indicating they had a better Q1 than Q4 of last year" said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, U.S. construction spending during February came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,192.8 billion U.S. dollars, 0.8 percent above the revised January estimate, the Commerce Department announced Monday.

Trades will also keep a close eye on the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve and March's nonfarm payroll reports later this week.

All three indices posted solid gains in the first quarter, with the S&P 500 closed with a rally of 5.5 percent. However, it is uncertain whether such rally is sustainable in the coming months.

Analysts said there appear to be growing concerns that Trump's tax reform, infrastructure spending and deregulation may take longer to pass than initially thought. Enditem