(MENAFN- AFP) US stocks on Thursday moved lower in the first trading session of 2014 following a mediocre report on Chinese manufacturing activity.
About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 76.74 points (0.46 percent) to 16,499.92.
The broad-based S&P 500 declined 9.68 (0.52 percent) to 1,838.68, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 33.02 (0.79 percent) to 4,143.57.
The HSBC index on Chinese manufacturing activity came in at 50.5 in December, the lowest reading in three months. The report suggested weak demand for goods from the world's second-biggest economy.
A slow start to US equity markets in 2014 would not be a shock after the S&P 500 gained close to three percent in the last month alone, said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
The S&P 500 gained almost 30 percent in all of 2013 in its best year since 1997.
Initial jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, fell by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 339,000 in the week ending December 21, the US Labor Department said.
Technology giant Apple shares fell 1.4 percent on the Nasdaq after Wells Fargo downgraded the stock on concerns about its profit-margin outlook.
Bank of America jumped 2.3 percent after Citigroup upgraded the stock. Bank of America is well-positioned as a "play" on a US economic recovery due to its "exposure" to its US consumer base, Citi said.
Gap rose 0.4 percent after reporting comparable annual sales growth of two percent for November.
Retailer Macy's ticked 0.4 percent higher after announcing a settlement with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia over a merchandising agreement. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia rose 2.2 percent. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond fell to 3.01 percent from 3.03 percent Tuesday, while the 30-year dipped to 3.94 percent from 3.96 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
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