(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors - Australia) U.S. stocks drifted lower Monday, as investors continued to take a breather after the recent run-up that pushed the Dow and S&P 500 near all-time highs.
With no significant economic or corporate news for investors to jump onto today, the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edged down between 0.1% and 0.2%.
Data from Thomson Reuters suggests that analysts expect earnings at S&P 500 companies to increase by only 1.7% this quarter.
Promisingly, two-thirds of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported results for the fourth quarter, with 70% of them beating forecasts.
For the remainder of the week, investors will likely have their eyes on three different things.
First, President Obama addresses the nation tomorrow night in his State of the Union speech.
Second, the Department of Commerce reports January retail sales on Wednesday.
Finally, weekly jobless claims from last week are released on Thursday.
Markets have had a good run so far in 2013. The Dow and S&P 500 are both up nearly 7% and still within range of their all-time highs, while the Nasdaq has gained nearly 6%.
In response to fund manager angst regarding its cash pile, Apple said in a press release stating that it's "in active discussions" about what to do with the massive cash holdings.
Google chief cashing some chips
Google (GOOG) disclosed late Friday that former CEO and executive chairman Eric Schmidt plans to sell 3.2 million shares of his stock in the company, worth about $2.5 billion. Shares of Google were lower.
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