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Stocks Have Worst Month Since Feb. 2009

Published: Friday, 29 Jan 2010 | 6:36 PM ET

Text Size

By: Cindy Perman
CNBC.com Staff Writer

Stocks erased their gains Friday and logged their worst month in nearly a year as investors shrugged off some encouraging economic data and techs took another hit.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 53.13, or 0.5 percent, to close at 10,067.33. The S&P 500 dropped 1 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.5 percent.

Technology was the worst-performing sector, followed by materials and energy.

Today's declined left the Dow and S&P down more than 3 percent for January, their worst monthly performances since Feb. 2009. For the Nasdaq, it was its worst month since Nov. 2008.

Major U.S. Indexes

	Last	Today's % Change	1 Week % Change	MTD % Change	YTD % Change
Dow	10067.33	-0.52%	-1.04%	-3.46%	-3.46%
NASDAQ	2147.35	-1.45%	-2.63%	-5.37%	-5.37%
S&P 500	1073.87	-0.98%	-1.64%	-3.70%	-3.70%
Russell 2000	602.04	-0.97%	-2.44%	-3.73%	-3.73%
CBOE VIX	24.56	3.50%	-10.07%	13.28%	13.28%

There was a trio of upbeat economic news today: Gross domestic product growth rose 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter, and in January, the Chicago PMI jumped to 61.5 and consumer confidence hit a two-year high.

The dollar hit its highest since August on the good economic news. Oil settled below $73 a barrel and gold fell to $1,083 an ounce.

But traders were slightly worried about a couple of points in the GDP report: The sharp revision to the prior quarter's growth and consumer spending.

FOR INVESTORS

"[T]raders are viewing this [GDP] number with tepid enthusiasm," said Todd M. Schoenberger, managing director of LandColt Trading in San Antonio, Texas. "The biggest disappointment was the print on consumer spending, which only contributed 1.44% to GDP," he said. "Considering 70% of GDP comes from the American consumer, the outlook for future quarters still looks bleak considering the labor situation in the country."

Also weighing on the market were worries about fiscal stability in some European countries, including Greece, Portugal and Spain.

Tech started strong, after earnings beats from both Microsoft [MSFT Loading... () ] and Amazon.com [AMZN Loading... () ] — Microsoft on the strength of the Windows 7 introduction and Amazon on a solid holiday-shopping season — but the gains petered out and Microsoft ended as the biggest drag on the Dow.

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange semiconductor index shed 3.4 percent after a weak outlook from chip maker SanDisk [SNDK Loading... () ], which fell 12 percent.

Nokia [NOK Loading... () ] finished lower, even after a vote of confidence from Goldman Sachs. The brokerage raised its price target on the stock after Thursday's earning surprise, though it kept its rating at "neutral."

For the week, Apple [AAPL Loading... () ] was the biggest drag on the Nasdaq as investors sold the stock after a run-up leading up to the debut of its highly-anticipated iPad.

IBM [IBM Loading... () ] had the most negative impact on the Dow this week.

In today's action, Wal-Mart [WMT Loading... () ] got a boost after Goldman Sachs raised its rating on the discount giant's stock to "buy," citing expense controls and increased margins among the reasons. It also raised its price target on the stock to $60 from $58.

There's still money to be made in this market, pros say, but you might want to tweak your recovery strategy. Click on the video at left.

Chevron [CVX Loading... () ] lost 1.5 percent today after the oil giant reported its profit dropped 37 percent, as refining problems offset an increase in oil prices.

Former Dow component Honeywell [HON Loading... () ] skidded 3 percent after the company report its profit slipped 1 percent, hurt by weak demand for aviation components and equipment used to heat and cool large buildings.

And Mattel [MAT Loading... () ] finished off more than 1 percent, even after the compnay beat analyst estimates amid strong sales from its Fashionista Barbie and Hot Wheels lines.