Wall Street pulls back after strong week; Dow off 0.09 percent

NEW YORK, Feb 7 (AFP) - US stocks drifted lower at the opening Monday as Wall Street paused to digest gains after the market's strongest week of the year.
In the first trades, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 9.38 points (0.09 percent) to 10,706.75 and the Nasdaq composite fell a fractional 0.64 point (0.03 percent) to 2,086.02.
Analysts said the market was ready for a pullback after gains of more than 2.5 percent for the major indexes last week.
"The news last week looked like an anti-bear conspiracy and investor sentiment clearly reversed," Barrington Research's Alexander Paris told clients.
Paris said "odds probably favor a quiet continuation of the improving tone" though he cautioned investors not to assume markets were in for another strong upward leg.
Alfred Goldman at AG Edwards offered a similar view, saying, "The big picture for stocks remains positive, but given the recent sharp advance, several days of a pause to refresh could occur at any time."

02/07/2005 14:39 GMT - AFP