Wall Street slips as investors pause after weeks of gains

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged lower on Monday as investors took a breather after Wall Street posted six consecutive weeks of gains.

In addition, the European Central Bank threw cold water on hopes for further easing soon to stimulate the economy. In response to a German magazine report this weekend about ECB bond-buying, a central bank spokesman said it was misleading to talk about decisions that had not yet been taken.

Limiting market losses was a major acquisition in the healthcare industry. Aetna Inc said it would buy Coventry Health Care Inc for $5.6 billion.

"Following six straight weeks of gains for the S&P 500 and Dow industrials, stocks enter the new week in an overbought condition," said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Baird.

"Investor sentiment has turned more optimistic in recent weeks. This could be problematic, given that sentiment is approaching extreme optimism at a time when the seasonal headwinds begin to surface," he said.

Bittles said the summer rally has broadened, with the best gains coming the past two weeks as the number of S&P 500 industry groups moving up improved to 77 percent last week from 72 percent the previous week and 69 percent two weeks ago. But, he added, "September's legacy as the weakest month of the year for stocks is well documented."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 38.23 points, or 0.29 percent, at 13,236.97. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 5.30 points, or 0.37 percent, at 1,412.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 14.41 points, or 0.47 percent, at 3,062.18.

Coventry shares jumped more than 19 percent to $41.61 after Aetna said it will pay $41.10 per share for the company, putting the deal at about 20 percent premium to the stock's Friday closing price. The deal is the latest in a string of multibillion-dollar acquisitions in the U.S. healthcare sector.

Aetna shares rose nearly 5 percent to $39.84.

The S&P 500 closed its sixth week of gains on Friday, closing in on four-year highs, as investors wait for the ECB to take steps to control the euro crisis in September. Last week the index broke away from the 1,400 level where it had stalled for much of August.

The latest edition of Der Spiegel said the ECB is discussing interest rate thresholds for individual euro zone countries with a view to intervening if the premium over German bonds is exceeded. In its latest comments the ECB stopped short of ruling out the report outright.

CME Group Inc , the biggest U.S. futures exchange operator, said on Monday it was applying to the British Financial Services Authority for approval to open in the middle of next year a London-based market trading currency futures. Its stock rose 0.2 percent to $54.04.

Lowe's Cos Inc reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results and cut its profit outlook for the fiscal year as the world's second-largest home improvement chain lost market share to larger rival Home Depot Inc . The shares fell 4.3 percent to $26.68.

Struggling retailer Best Buy Co Inc said its founder, Richard Schulze, has turned down an offer from the board to conduct due diligence in connection with his proposal to take the company private at a valuation of more than $8 billion. The shares fell 7.1 percent to $18.83.

The global economic outlook is more uncertain now than at the start of the financial crisis in late 2008, Doug Oberhelman, chief executive of Caterpillar , the world's largest maker of construction equipment, said on Monday. Caterpillar's shares lost 0.8 percent to $89.32.

(Reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-index-futures-signal-slight-gains-085756946--finance.html

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