NEW YORK (AP) — Stock are moderately lower as investors weigh recent signs of economic recovery and wonder what will be able to take the market higher.
Investors get a new reading on consumer sentiment Friday morning. Growing consumer confidence is important to a recovery because their spending accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity.
A stronger dollar is pushing down oil prices and commodity stocks. In the early going, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 41 at 8,730. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down 6 at 939. The Nasdaq composite index is down 14 at 1,848.
Business
<img src=" http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/friday.gif" border=0> Stocks slip as investors await signs on economy
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Stocks fall on Wall Street as Spanish bank teeters
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5 Spanish banks downgraded; Bankia seeks 19 billion euros in aid
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US declines to label China a currency manipulator
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Syngenta pays $105 million to settle US litigation
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’Personal concierge’ businesses take on to-do lists of the time-starved
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