NEW YORK - Wall Street shares swung lower Tuesday as a surge in crude oil prices prompted investors to lock in gains after the market's recent rally.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average drifted down 11.16 points (0.10 percent) to 10,925.70 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 8.87 points (0.42 percent) to 2,081.34 at 1645 GMT.
The Standard and Poor's 500 broad-market index dipped 3.40 points (0.28 percent) to 1,221.91.
Analysts said the market was digesting recent gains that pushed the Dow and S and P indexes to multiyear highs, with the Nasdaq beginning to gather momentum as well.
"It looks like the market is stable, but still lacks a long-term catalyst to make the next major move," Marc Pado, US market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald told clients.
If such a move happens this week, Pado believes it will come from a pullback in the price of crude-oil to 50 dollars.
"Short of that, we would look for continued churning as the Dow and S and P try to hold onto new rally high ground," he said.
But oil prices surged past 54 dollars a barrel in New York in morning trade, putting more pressure on stocks.
Oppenheimer and Co.'s chief investment strategist Michael Metz said the rising price of oil and other commodities has put an inflation scare into Wall Street at a time of rising interest rates.
"I think this is going to be a damper on the markets," he said.
"There's a little rotation into the technology stocks but frankly I think the market is still in a vast trading range. Maybe it goes a little bit higher but I don't think it's going anywhere -- not when you have a problem with interest rates."
But Bob Dickey at RBC Dain Rauscher said he sees the uptrend intact.
"The bulls appear to be in control as the Dow continues to move to new 12-month high ground, and the Nasdaq is poised to also break through the resistance that it has at the 2,100 level," he said.
Among active shares, Texas Instruments slumped 86 cents to 26.51 after warning that revenues and earnings would be lower than earlier forecasts due to weak demand for chips for high-definition television.
McDonald's tumbled 1.02 to 33.19 after a sluggish report on February same-store sales growth from the fast-food giant worried investors.
Intel shed 21 cents to 24.90 after Japan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) that its subsidiary Intel KK engaged in practices aimed at stifling competition.
General Motors declined 39 cents to 34.53 after announcing it would lay off 3,000 workers and close its assembly plant in Lansing, Michigan.
The bond market retreated. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond jumped to 4.369 percent from 4.304 percent Monday and that on the 30-year bond to 4.690 percent against 4.618 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
03/08/2005 16:55 GMT