Sam Collins

Nasdaq May Lead the Markets Down

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Friday ended the week on a down note as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 0.8%, which resulted in a 0.5% loss for the week and halted a four-week streak of winners.

Two major factors contributed to the decline:

1. Consumer confidence, as measured by the Reuters/University of Michigan Index, fell to 63.2 in August from 66.0 in July. Analysts had expected 68.5.

2. Dow component Boeing (BA) fell 4.2% after it disclosed that new flaws in production of its 787 Dreamliner led it to halt work at its fuselage assembly plant in Italy.

Consumer spending is becoming a major issue since it makes up two-thirds of the U.S. economy.

In addition to the consumer confidence report, a weaker-than-expected sales report from Wal-Mart (WMT) for back-to-school shopping shook the market.

And then JC Penney (JCP) reported that its second quarter will show a $1 million loss and said it expects a breakeven result in the current quarter.

At the end of the day, the Dow was off 77 points to 9,321, the S&P 500 (SPX) fell 9 points to 1,004, and the Nasdaq (NASD) was off 24 points at 1,986.