NEW YORK, Sept 14 (AFP) - US stocks drifted mainly lower Tuesday amid a new spike in oil prices linked to Hurricane Ivan`s move through the Gulf of Mexico, with disappointing economic data undermining sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 5.30 points, or 0.05 percent, to 10,309.46, while the Nasdaq composite fell 3.26 points, or 0.11 percent, to 1,906.12 at 1450 GMT.
The broad-market Standard and Poor`s 500 lost a fractional 0.26 point to 1,125.56.
Hurting sentiment at the opening was a report showing US retail sales fell 0.3 percent in August, marking the third decline in the past five months. The decline was steeper than the 0.1 percent drop expected by Wall Street economists.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that the US current account deficit widened to a record 166.2 billion dollars in the second quarter.
"The market is looking a little bit lower," said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst and strategist at SW Bach. "The fact that oil prices are brushing 45 a barrel is the main reason behind this move."
Cardillo said August retail sales were a little weaker than expected but no great surprise to investors.
"August blew hot and cold for American retailers, adding up to an unimpressive overall tally," said Avery Shenfeld at CIBC World Markets.
"Retail results could be distorted somewhat in September by the worse-than-usual hurricane season. Beyond that, we expect tepid growth in sales in the fourth quarter, seeing July`s gains as a one-off result supported by aggressive discounting on autos and other items."
RBC Dain Rauscher analyst Bob Dickey said, meanwhile, that he remained skeptical about the recent rally in the technology sector.
"At this time, we would label the current rally in most tech stocks as a `bounce in a downtrend,`" he said.
"Given all the recent company warnings and research downgrades in the sector, we believe that the best opportunity for an uptrend to start will be after the third-quarter reports, due out in about a month. Prior to that, we regard tech stock rallies as suspect, unless they are accompanied by a notable increase in the volume."
Among active shares, Yahoo climbed 21 cents to 32.08 after announcing it was buying the digital music firm Musicmatch for 160 million dollars.
Airlines remained in focus as Wall Street digested the implications of the bankruptcy filing of US Airways.
American Airlines parent AMR shed eight cents to 9.67, while Delta dropped 10 cents to 4.03. Meanwhile, US Airways, which was still being traded, rallied 16 cents, or 15.6 percent, to 1.18 after its steep declines in recent sessions.
Metro Goldwyn Mayer climbed 13 cents to 11.68 after striking a deal to be acquired for roughly five billion dollars by Japan`s Sony, which fell 33 cents to 35.49.
In retail, Federated Department Stores added five cents to 45.60 after it announced it is planning to change the name of all its regional department stores to the Macy`s nameplate.
Shares of Kmart Holding jumped 3.30 to 88.64 after UBS raised its price target on the discount retailer.
Bonds weakened slightly. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 4.171 percent from 4.151 percent Monday, and that on the 30-year bond climbed to 4.965 percent from 4.943 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.