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* China August factory deflation deepens
* Tech stocks weigh most among 11 major sectors
* Ford falls as Moody's downgrades bonds to junk
* Indexes off: Dow 0.14%, S&P 0.44%, Nasdaq 0.54%
(Updates prices, adds comments)
By Uday Sampath Kumar
Sept 10 (Reuters) - A fall in technology stocks pulled Wall
Street's main indexes lower on Tuesday as weak economic data
from China revived global recession fears, but losses were
tempered by hopes on trade.
China's factory-gate prices shrank 0.8% in August, the
sharpest pace of decline in three years, as businesses slashed
prices to cope with flagging demand amid a bruising trade war
with the United States that has slowed growth in the world's
second largest economy. "A slowdown in China is clearly a sign that global
deceleration of economic activity is real and is something we're
going to have to deal with," said Omar Aguilar, chief investment
officer of equities and multi-asset strategies at Charles Schwab
Investment Management.
Offering some respite, a report from South China Morning
Post said Beijing is expected to agree to buy more agricultural
products in hopes of a better trade deal with the United States.
Analysts attributed some of the selloff in tech to investors
re-distributing wealth into stocks that have underperformed
during the year.
Tech stocks .SPLRCT , the best performer on the S&P 500
with a 28% surge this year, fell 1.13%, while the energy sector
.SPNY , the year's worst performer, jumped 1.78%.
Real estate .SPLRCR fell 1.94, the most among the 11 major
S&P sectors. The sector is the second best performer of the
year, gaining 24%.
"It's less about risk and more about returns - taking
profits and reallocating to the losers," Aguilar said.
Trading so far this week has largely been subdued as
investors hold out for policy decisions from central banks on
potential monetary easing. The European Central Bank will hold
its policy meeting on Thursday. The U.S. Federal Reserve and the ECB are widely expected to
cut interest rates over the next two weeks, but investors doubt
the extent to which central banks' measures will stem an
economic slowdown.
At 12:09 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 36.44 points, or 0.14%, at 26,799.07, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 13.08 points, or 0.44%, at 2,965.35 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 43.83 points, or 0.54%, at 8,043.61.
Among other stocks, Apple Inc AAPL.O dipped 0.3% ahead of
an event where it is widely expected to unveil its latest
iPhones.
Details on its new video streaming service could also move
shares of Netflix Inc NFLX.O and Walt Disney Co DIS.N .
Netflix was down 0.2%.
Boeing Co's BA.N plane deliveries fell 72% in August,
pushing total deliveries so far this year down more than 40%, as
the worldwide grounding of its best-selling 737 MAX jet enters
its seventh month. Shares of the planemaker rose 2.2%.
Ford Motor Co F.N fell 2.7% after ratings agency Moody's
downgraded its bonds to junk status overnight. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.30-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.53-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 11 new 52-week highs and two new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 28 new highs and 34 new lows.