(Pic)- A board at the New York Stock Exchange displays the Dow Jones Industrial Average after the opening bell July 24, 2009. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow industrials snapped an eight-session winning streak on Friday, as renewed worries about Greece sparked a climb in the dollar and weighed on U.S. stocks.
Sectors sensitive to dollar moves were hit hard, including materials, chip makers and energy. The S&P Energy Index .GSPE was down 0.9 percent as commodities, including gold and U.S. crude oil futures, dropped. Dow component Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) fell 0.5 percent to $67.04.
The euro fell to more than a two-week low against the greenback on renewed worries about Greece's debt problems. Investors fear reluctance from the European Union's largest economy, Germany, will hinder efforts to alleviate Greece's problems.
Greece "will always be over the market until it's rectified in any way," said Peter Costa, president of Empire Executions in New York. "Until it's resolved, it's going to be an issue."
Healthcare insurance stocks were among the rare winners on Friday, ahead of an impending congressional vote to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system. The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index .HMO gained 2.2 percent. The index also got a lift from Aetna Inc (AET.N), which gained 3.7 percent to $34.46 after it forecast first-quarter earnings above consensus.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 37.19 points, or 0.35 percent, to end at 10,741.98. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX lost 5.93 points, or 0.51 percent, to 1,159.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC shed 16.87 points, or 0.71 percent, to 2,374.41.
For the week, the Dow rose 1.1 percent, the S&P added 0.9 percent and the Nasdaq gained 0.3 percent.
3M Co (MMM.N), which fell 2 percent to $81.96, was the top drag on the Dow as the diversified manufacturer erased gains made in Thursday's session, when it was one of the top advancers in the blue-chip average.
Weighing on the Nasdaq was Palm Inc (PALM.O), which plunged 29.2 percent to $4.00 a day after it warned that quarterly revenues would be far below expectations as low demand for its smartphones left wireless carriers with excess inventory.
SunPower Corp (SPWRA.O) tumbled 14 percent to $18.96 a day after it gave a weaker-than-expected profit outlook for 2010, prompting a number of analysts to cut their price targets on the stock.
Volume has been thin during the week and volatility has dropped considerably. The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX fell 3.5 percent this week.
Friday marked the second day of a convergence known as quadruple witching, when four types of options and futures contracts expire, triggering volatility and higher volumes.
About 10.03 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, above last year's estimated daily average of 9.65 billion.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a ratio of about 7 to 3. On the Nasdaq, eight stocks fell for every five that rose.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)
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Fri Mar 19, 2010 5:15pm EDT
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