MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stocks Lower As Car Sales Expected To Slide

By Kate Gibson

U.S. stocks fell on Monday, breaking a three-day run of gains, ahead of data expected to illustrate declining car sales and as investors contended with underlying anxiety before Friday's jobs report.

"Friday's jobs report should show non-farm payrolls down 550,000 and the rate above 7%," said Tom di Galoma, head of U.S. bond trading at Jefferies & Co. Inc.

After closing at an eight-week high Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 55.51 points to 8,979.18 in early action.

Two-thirds of the Dow's 30 components traded in the red, with Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) fronting the declines, its shares lately off 5.3%.

The S&P 500 (SPX) shed 3.85 points to 927.95, with telecommunication services, health care and financials the leading laggard sectors among the index's 10 industry groups.

And the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) declined 12.09 points to 1,620.12, with tech stocks dipping even as Apple Inc. shares rose after the company's CEO acknowledged heath trouble but said they were not serious enough to give up his job. .

Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) gained 3.3% after Jobs said he's undergoing treatment for a hormone imbalance that has caused him to lose weight. Jobs made his comments in an open letter to the Apple community. .

On Capitol Hill, President-elect Barack Obama plans to meet Monday with congressional leaders of both parties as he tries to shore up support for his economic-stimulus package and about $300 billion in tax cuts. .

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange exceeded 226 million, and declining issues only slightly outpaced those on the rise. On the Nasdaq, nearly 138 million shares traded, and decliners topped advancers 7 to 5.

Driven

End-of-the-year results from the auto industry were likely to be grim, with car-buying research Web site Edmunds.com looking for Chrysler to tally a 46% sales drop last month, while predicting General Motors Corp. (GM) and Ford Motor Co. will fall 39% and 34%, respectively.

Less grim than anticipated, the Commerce Department reported construction spending fell 0.6% in November.

J.P. Morgan raised its rating on Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) to overweight from neutral. Shares of the online retailer were up 1% Monday morning.

Oil futures gained more than 2% in early trade, with the contract for February delivery up $1.05, or 2.4%, to 47.39 a barrel.

The dollar index (DXY), a measure of the greenback against rival currencies, held steady at 82.65. .

Asian markets shot higher, with Japanese stocks taking the lead.

European shares also gained, with telecom, utility and oil equities among the strongest performers. .

Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.