Stocks fall in morning trading as dollar strengthens, investors remain cautious of recovery

Stocks fall in early trading as dollar rises

NEW YORK — The stock market lost ground for a third straight day as investors grew increasingly uneasy about a rising dollar and spiking demand for the safest government debt.

With little U.S. economic news to help sway the market Friday, the dollar again drove trading. A strengthening dollar curtails foreign demand for commodities, which are often traded in dollars. It also can depress U.S. exports, which become more expensive as the dollar rises.

That can hurt the price of energy and materials stocks that are closely tied to commodities and the stocks of companies with large operations overseas.

A disappointing earnings report from computer maker Dell Inc. weighed on technology shares and hurt the Nasdaq composite index. Dell said late Thursday that sales of its computers to big businesses remain sluggish. Its quarterly revenue and profit missed analysts’ expectations.

As investors moved out of stocks, they moved into safer investments like Treasury bonds. The yield on the three-month T-bill, which moves opposite its price, is hovering near its lowest level of the year, which it hit Thursday. Yields briefly turned negative Thursday as demand jumped for the safest short-term government debt.

In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 25.62, or 0.3 percent, to 10,306.82. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 5.06, or 0.5 percent, to 1,089.84, while the Nasdaq fell 36.32, or 1.7 percent, to 2,139.84.

The ICE Futures US dollar index, which measures the dollar against other major currencies, rose 0.6 percent.

The yield on the three-month T-bill was 0.02 percent after falling as low as 0.005 percent late Thursday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note rose to 3.36 percent from 3.34 percent.

“Investors seem to need a constant reassurance with where we are in the economic recovery,” said Brett D’Arcy, chief investment officer at CBIZ Wealth Management Group in San Diego. “We just haven’t gotten it in the past few days.”

D’Arcy expects stocks to continue to sell off Friday given the disappointing economic data earlier this week.

Weak housing and mortgage data the past two days has helped bring the market’s nearly relentless rise to a halt amid concerns any economic recovery will be slow and bumpy. On Thursday, the Mortgage Bankers Association provided fresh evidence that the housing market is still fragile. The trade group said more than 14 percent of homeowners with a mortgage were behind in their payments or facing foreclosure at the end of September.

Among stocks, Dell fell $1.40, or 8.8 percent, to $14.47.

Homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. said its fiscal fourth-quarter loss narrowed as it took smaller write downs on its inventory. Even as its losses shrank, revenue fell 42 percent as the housing market remained unsteady. The stocks fell $1.06, or 8.7 percent, to $11.19.

Crude oil fell $1.10 to $76.36 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the dollar rose.

Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 315.6 million shares compared with 143.6 million shares traded at the same point Thursday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 1.48, or 0.3 percent, to 584.20.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.5 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent, Germany’s DAX index lost 0.4 percent, and France’s CAC-40 dropped 0.4 percent.