By Donna Kardos Yesalavich, MarketWatch
U.S. stocks slip in early trade
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks fell slightly Monday, as investors were disappointed by mixed Black Friday sales results and a Dubai government official's statement that Dubai World's debt isn't guaranteed by the government.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU 10,343, +33.56, +0.33%) was down 15 points, or 0.2%, to 10,294 recently, led by Boeing Co. (BA 52.60, +0.15, +0.28%) , which dropped 0.7%. United Technologies Corp. (UTX 67.40, +0.20, +0.30%) and General Electric Co. (GE 16.03, +0.09, +0.56%) were also weak, down 0.6% each.
The declines were held in check by financial components Bank of America Corp. (BAC 15.84, +0.37, +2.39%) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM 42.05, +0.72, +1.74%) , which jumped more than 1.8% each, rebounding from their Friday declines as the Dubai official said the markets shouldn't worry about banks. Read more about Dubai.
The Nasdaq Composite (COMP 2,140, +1.35, +0.06%) slipped 0.3%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (SPX 1,095, +3.75, +0.34%) fell 0.1%. The energy and industrials sectors led the S&P 500's drop, with energy stocks including Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK 24.38, +0.21, +0.87%) and Valero Energy Corp. (VLO 15.96, -0.04, -0.25%) being weighed down by a decline in crude-oil futures.
In other markets, gold futures also fell, while the dollar moved lower against the euro but was higher against the yen. Treasurys declined, with the 10-year note recently off 8/32 to yield 3.236%.
The small declines in stocks Monday came after Abdulrahman Al Saleh, director general of Dubai's Department of Finance told state-run Dubai TV Monday that Dubai World's debt isn't guaranteed by the Dubai government and that markets need to differentiate between the holding company and the state. Dubai World's debt problems were revealed late Wednesday, when the city-state's largest corporate entity asked creditors for a six-month stay on repayment of its $60 billion in debts. Stocks slumped Friday in reaction.
The government official's comments came after the United Arab Emirates central bank said Sunday that it would make fresh funding available to local banks if needed, but didn't offer specific support to Dubai, raising worries of a rift between the struggling city-state and the U.A.E.'s federal government.
Adding to the pressure on U.S. stocks, retail sales from the weekend came in mixed. Roughly 195 million consumers shopped in stores and online over the Black Friday weekend, up from 172 million last year, according to the National Retail Federation. But average spending dropped to $343.31 per person from $372.57 a year ago. Overall sales for the four-day weekend totaled $41.2 billion, up marginally from $41 billion last year, the NRF estimated. Read more about retail sales.
