Stocks Fall Sharply Ahead of Close; Dell Rises

Stocks extended their losses in the final hour of trading Monday, led by banks and energy, as investors turned cautious amid signs of an economic slowdown.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 40 points, led by JPMorgan
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] and Bank of America
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], after tumbling almost 100 points on Friday to finish lower for the fifth-consecutive week following a disappointing government jobs report.

The SP 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined. Some experts believe 1,227 is the next support level for the SP. The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, fell slightly to trade below 18.

Both the Dow and SP are down almost 3 percent in June. And if stocks close lower again this week, it will be the longest losing-streak since 2002.

All 10 key SP sectors slipped, led by energy and financials.

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“There’s still a significant fallout from Friday’s lack of jobs creation, which has raised questions around government spending in jobs creation programs,” said Tim Speiss, Chairman of the Personal Wealth Advisors for EisnerAmper.

Speiss said markets will continue to trade sideways until September when he expects the economy to start seeing a turnaround.

However, some strategists at UBS believe that while equity markets are likely to remain volatile in the near-term, growth is expected to reaccelerate in the second half of this year, with the SP finishing at 1,410.

“We continue to emphasize that while there are a lot of growth concerns in the U.S., corporates are still well valued,” said Katie Klingensmith, economic and policy analyst, UBS Wealth Management Research. “We are overall positive on risk assets.”

Goldman Sachs dissected the reason behind the sluggish growth in a new report, saying growth will probably rebound in the second half of the year as commodity prices drop back and any Japan-related disruptions unwind.

But the disappointing jobs report does not change the outlook for the economy and chances of a tighter policy in 2011 is “certainly possible” by year-end, said Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser, a well-known inflation hawk who has a vote on policy this year.

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Bank stocks declined across the board, extending last week’s decline, following chatter that Washington is thinking of increasing capital requirements.

Among individual names, Wells Fargo      www.bgocled.com