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Wall Street slips as financial, tech stocks weigh

Wall Street slips as financial, tech stocks weigh
October 3, 2016
NEW YORK- Wall Street slipped on the first trading day of the fourth quarter, dragged down by financial and technology stocks. The markets have become skittish, with the S&P 500 swinging between gains and losses in the past few days as investors await the upcoming corporate earnings season and the outcome of a tight race to the White House. Concerns over U.S. authorities demanding $14 billion from Deutsche Bank and Britain's March deadline to start its separation from the European Union are also weighing on investor sentiment. The S&P 500 financial index .SPSY declined 0.6 percent as Wells Fargo (WFC.N) fell to a near three-year low of $43.73. The technology index .SPLRCT was off 0.54 percent as Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) slipped. The dollar index .DXY rose 0.3 percent following a report that showed U.S. factories ramped up activity in September after contracting the previous month. However, reaction was muted as investors await Friday's jobs report, which will likely play a big role in the Federal Reserve's decision to raise rates this year. At 12:35 p.m. ET (1635 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 82.28 points, or 0.45 percent, at 18,225.87. The S&P 500 .SPX was down 12.24 points, or 0.56 percent, at 2,156.03 and the Nasdaq Composite.IXIC was down 28.22 points, or 0.53 percent, at 5,283.79. "It's a market that is burning off a little bit of the frost from overbought conditions of last week, and nervousness is likely to increase as we get closer to the jobs report," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. Wall Street closed sharply higher on Friday, registering its biggest quarterly rise this year. Ten of the 11 major S&P 500 indexes were lower, with utilities .SPLRCU dropping the most by 1.7 percent. Tesla shares (TSLA.O) rose 4.5 percent to $213.17 after the electric carmaker said third-quarter deliveries rose by 70 percent to 24,500 cars. Cabela's (CAB.N) surged 14.6 percent to $62.95 after the company said it would be acquired by Bass Pro Shops in a deal valued at about $5.5 billion. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,911 to 978. On the Nasdaq, 1,778 issues fell and 960 advanced. The S&P 500 index showed nine new 52-week highs and five new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 55 new highs and 24 new lows. -Reuters