NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stocks fell Wednesday after a series of profit disappointments raised questions about whether a two-month rally can resume when Wall Street fully returns to work next week.
The second straight day of losses erased the last gains from a Monday surge that propelled the Dow Jones industrial average into bull market territory.
Markets in the U.S. are closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and will shut down three hours early on Friday.
Wednesday's session served up reminders that companies are suffering from slowing demand. Two chipmakers, Analog Devices and Triquint Semiconductor, fell after saying sales will fall short in the current quarter.
Retailer Dillard's saw its losses widen beyond forecasts. And a slide in Microsoft, whose moves affect the major indexes, came after Salomon Smith Barney downgraded the software maker, which will incur a charge of millions of dollars to settle private antitrust suits.
"We do not see this V-shaped recovery in corporate profits," David Tice, president of David Tice & Associates, told CNNfn's Market Call.
The view of Tice, whose Prudent Bear Fund benefits when stocks fall, runs counter to most on Wall Street who expect rebounding profits next year.
Enron, the energy trader, suffered two brokerage downgrades. The latest slide in its shares, the biggest decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, pushed Enron stock down 93 percent from its high of the year.
The market's two-day pullback, said David Briggs, head trader at Federated Investors, has more to do with fatigue than fundamentals. "We've come a long way in a short amount of time and I think we are due for a little profit-taking," he said.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 66.70 points, or 0.7 percent, to 9,834.68, robbing the index of the 20 percent trough-to-peak gain considered a bull market.
The Nasdaq composite index dipped 5.46 to 1,875.05, and the Standard & Poor's 500 declined 5.63 to end the day at 1,137.03.
More stocks fell than rose. On the New York Stock Exchange, declining stocks beat advancing ones 9 to 6 as 1 billion shares traded. Nasdaq losers edged out winners as 1.5 billion shares changed hands.
In other markets, Treasury securities fell, continuing a slide from last week. The dollar rose against the euro and the yen.
Chipped away
Triquint Semiconductor (TQNT: down $2.33 to $17.22, Research, Estimates), which makes computer chips for mobile phones, said profit and sales in the fourth quarter will come in at the low end of previous guidance. Chipmaker Analog Devices (ADI: down $0.40 to $41.60, Research, Estimates) warned that profit in its fiscal first quarter will miss forecasts.
Market watchers expect the pace of warnings to pick up in December, the last month of the fourth quarter.
The Dow's biggest loser, Microsoft (MSFT: down $1.35 to $64.05, Research, Estimates), suffered a downgrade from Salomon Smith Barney, which cut the software maker to "neutral" from "outperform." Microsoft said the $375 million in charges it is taking to settle private antitrust lawsuits will take a bite out of earnings.
The troubles continued for Enron (ENE: down $1.98 to $5.01, Research, Estimates), whose shares tumbled another 30 percent. Goldman Sachs and CIBC World Markets downgraded the energy trader after the company revealed that it is in talks with its lenders to restructure its loans.
Dillard's (DDS: down $0.50 to $15.05, Research, Estimates), the department store chain, said it lost more money than analysts expected in its third quarter.
The market's pullback came even after two economic indicators pointed to stability. The University of Michigan's survey on consumer sentiment rose above expectations in November, a month of rising stock prices and success for U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.
And the number of Americans filing for first-time jobless claims fell by 15,000 to 427,000 last week, surprising economists who expected a gain. The fourth straight weekly decline in claims suggests that the steepest job losses following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have passed.
The latest company reducing its work force, Verizon Communications (VZ: down $0.21 to $48.99, Research, Estimates), said it will offer voluntary buyouts to employees. A spokesman for the regional phone company would not give specific numbers on how many of Verizon's 260,000 employees would be offered the buyout.
Amgen (AMGN: up $4.07 to $61.98, Research, Estimates) rallied after projecting that strong sales of its new anemia and arthritis drugs will push earnings growth higher than expected.
U.S. stocks have had a strong run this autumn. The Dow industrials are up 19.4 percent since Sept. 21, while the Nasdaq holds a 32 percent gain.
Explaining Wednesday's pullback, some analysts said the market simply needed a rest from its strong run.
"I think it's a matter of the market running out of steam, and maybe everyone realizing we've come too far too fast," said Charles Payne, head analyst at Wall Street Strategies. "The stocks have moved ahead of the fundamentals."
The losses also came amid the diagnosis of the first anthrax case in three weeks. Authorities say a 94-year-old Connecticut woman died from the inhaled form of the disease.
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