NEW YORK (Reuters) -Stocks rallied on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq up 1 percent, after concern over the U.S. economy abated as data showed the manufacturing sector expanded at a faster clip than forecast in April.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 93.32 points, or 0.71 percent, to 13,306.95. The S&P 500 Index added 13.88 points, or 0.99 percent, to 1,411.79. The Nasdaq Composite rose 32.81 points, or 1.08 percent, to 3,079.17.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by James Dalgleish)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks edged higher and the S&P 500 turned positive on Thursday after data showed contracts to buy previously owned homes increased solidly to a near two-year high in March.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 44.84 points, or 0.34 percent, to 13,135.56. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.44 points, or 0.10 percent, to 1,392.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 7.86 points, or 0.26 percent, to 3,037.49.

(Reporting By Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks rallied on Wednesday, with Apple‘s surge giving the Nasdaq its biggest gain of the year, while the Fed chairman reassured markets the central bank would do more if necessary to lift the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 89.16 points, or 0.69 percent, to end unofficially at 13,090.72. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 18.72 points, or 1.36 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,390.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 68.03 points, or 2.30 percent, to close unofficially at 3,029.63.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Jan Paschal)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nasdaq fell more than 1 percent on Friday as stocks extended declines on disappointing Chinese economic data and renewed concerns about Spain’s rising borrowing costs.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 92.11 points, or 0.71 percent, at 12,894.47. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 11.35 points, or 0.82 percent, at 1,376.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 32.47 points, or 1.06 percent, at 3,023.08.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Theodore d’Afflisio)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks extended losses on Tuesday with the S&P 500 falling below its 50-day moving average for the first time since December 21.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 121.89 points, or 0.94 percent, at 12,807.70. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 15.55 points, or 1.13 percent, at 1,366.65. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 36.30 points, or 1.19 percent, at 3,010.78.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Jan Paschal)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks dropped at the open on Monday in the wake of Friday’s much weaker-than-expected report on March U.S. job creation.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 143.42 points, or 1.10 percent, to 12,916.72. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 17.03 points, or 1.22 percent, to 1,381.05. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 42.13 points, or 1.37 percent, to 3,038.37.

(Reporting By Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P cut early gains to turn negative on Friday, putting it on track to extend a losing streak to four straight sessions.

The index rose earlier in the session, and still remains on pace for its strongest quarter in more than two years.

The S&P 500 remains up 2.8 percent in March and ahead almost 12 percent for the first quarter. If could be the best start to the year since 1998 and the index’s best quarter since the third period of 2009.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 8.02 points, or 0.06 percent, at 13,153.84. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index <.SPX> was down 1.17 points, or 0.08 percent, at 1,402.11. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 14.38 points, or 0.46 percent, at 3,080.98.

(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks retreated from near-four-year peaks on Tuesday, while a number of large-cap shares hit new highs with the help of portfolio managers buying up top performers into the end of the quarter.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 43.82 points, or 0.33 percent, to 13,197.81. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index <.INX> lost 3.99 points, or 0.28 percent, to 1,412.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> dipped 2.22 points, or 0.07 percent, to 3,120.35.

(Reporting By Edward Krudy; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks were poised for a flat open on Friday after equities suffered their worst percentage drop in two weeks, with the S&P 500 on track for its first decline in the past six weeks.

The S&P lost 0.7 percent on Thursday, its biggest percentage drop since March 6, although the benchmark index is still near four-year highs.

The benchmark S&P is down 0.8 percent for the week, and many investors were waiting for a further pullback as the index has risen 10.8 percent for the year and 26.7 percent from its October low.

Analysts do not see the current declines as the start of a deeper pullback, instead looking for a boost next week from quarter-end “window dressing,” when fund managers drop poor performing stocks and chase better-performing ones.

Factory data showing a slowdown in both the euro zone and China sent the S&P 500 lower on Thursday to its first close closed below 1,400 in six sessions.

“We are all looking for a correction in the markets and that is what we are getting at the moment,” said Frank Lesh, a futures analyst and broker at FuturePath Trading LLC in Chicago.

“It’s not a deep and serious correction but we were a bit overbought and we could just move sideways to slightly lower to correct that, and it appears that is what we are doing.”

Economic reports on tap for Friday include new home sales for February at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT). Economists in a Thomson Reuters survey forecast a total of 325,000 annualized units compared with 321,000 in January.

S&P 500 futures fell 8.6 points and were slightly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were unchanged, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 4 points.

KB Home tumbled 15.9 percent to $9.45 in premarket trading after the fifth-largest U.S. homebuilder posted a wider first-quarter loss and said orders for new homes declined.

Zynga Inc fell 2.2 percent to $13.45 premarket after the online games maker said shareholders will sell about 43 million shares in a secondary offering.

Nike Inc edged up 0.3 percent to $111.30 premarket after the sportswear retailer forecast a strong year and said it was heading into the spring quarter with strong demand and improving margin trends.

Jobs search website Monster Worldwide Inc is open to selling all or part of itself and expects to have data ready for potential buyers fairly soon, Chief Executive Sal Iannuzzi said in an interview. Shares gained 3.6 percent to $9.83 premarket.

Darden Restaurants Inc gained 0.3 percent to $52 premarket posted higher third-quarter profit, boosted by increased sales at its Olive Garden chain.

(Reporting By Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks fell on Monday for the second straight session and the third in the last four trading days, led lower by basic materials shares after China trimmed its growth target for 2012.

The S&P 500 index opened lower and data showing the U.S. services sector expanded in February at its fastest pace in a year did little to stem the decline.

The benchmark S&P 500 is up 8.5 percent so far this year on investor expectations for a recovery in the U.S. economy, a containment of the euro zone’s debt crisis and the belief that China will avoid a hard landing in its current economic cycle.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, lowered its 2012 growth target to an eight-year low of 7.5 percent and made expanding consumer demand its top priority, as Beijing looks to shrink the economy’s reliance on external spending and foreign capital.

“That spooked everybody this morning. It started over in Asia, flowed right to Europe and flowed right over here,” said Ken Polcari, managing director at ICAP Equities in New York.

“The fact is they are guiding a little bit lower to control their inflation. It is not necessarily the end of the world, but it gave people a reason to take some money off the table.”

Materials shares, sensitive to signs of slowing in China’s commodity-hungry economy, dropped and were the biggest drag on Wall Street. The S&P materials sector index fell 1.6 percent, with Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc off 3.8 percent at $40.45.

The Dow Jones industrial average shed 14.76 points, or 0.11 percent, to 12,962.81 at the close. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dipped 5.30 points, or 0.39 percent, to 1,364.33. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 25.71 points, or 0.86 percent, to close at 2,950.48.

During the session, the S&P 500 briefly dipped below its 14-day moving average – a line it has held for the last 50 sessions in an impressive run.

The Nasdaq registered the biggest decline among the three major U.S. stock indexes as Apple Inc dropped as much as 3.5 percent to a session low at $526 on heavy volume. By the close, Apple had retraced some of that loss, down 2.2 percent at $533.16. The company is expected to debut its new iPad this week.

“There is talk about iPad sales slowing down and all that … it’s done nothing but go straight up with no correction at all. So any whiff of the slightest miss or negative news is going to take money right out of it, and that’s what you saw today,” Polcari said.

The S&P technology sector index lost 1 percent.

Further weighing on investor sentiment in the early portion of trading, Greece warned it was ready to enforce losses on its private-sector creditors, although major Greek bondholders later

voiced their support for the deal.

The continued uncertainty around the Greek deal along with data showing a slowdown in business activity in various euro-zone countries heightened recession worries for the region and pushed European equities lower.

Alpha Natural Resources shares dropped 6 percent to $16.35 and Arch Coal slid 5.4 percent to $12.20 as lower natural gas prices added to growth concern in China, pressuring coal miners’ stocks.

U.S. steelmakers’ shares were also hit by the news China was lowering its economic growth outlook.

AK Steel stock fell 6.1 percent to $7.29, U.S. Steel dropped 4.7 percent to $$26.21 and Nucor slipped 2.4 percent to $42.52.

“It’s all about China,” said analyst Charles Bradford of Bradford Research in New York, who noted that last year China had expected 7 percent growth and it actually came in at 9.8 percent.

“The fear is that if China’s domestic market is not doing so well, it will have surplus steel to export,” he said.

Volume was light with about 6.08 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, below the daily average of 6.9 billion.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 3 to 2, while on the Nasdaq, nearly seven stocks fell for every six that rose.

(Reporting By Chuck Mikolajczak; Additional reporting by Steve James; Editing by Jan Paschal)