Wall Street falls after factory data, last week's records

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Monday in one of the lightest volume days of the year, pulling back after the S&P 500's record closing high last week and after weaker-than-expected manufacturing data.

Apple was the biggest drag on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 <.ndx>, falling 3.1 percent to $428.91. Fidelity Contrafund, a $92 billion fund that is the largest active shareholder in Apple, reported that it cut its stake in the iPhone maker by 10 percent during the first two months of 2013.

Data showed factory activity grew at the slowest rate in three months in March, suggesting the economy lost some momentum at the end of the first quarter.

Recent data that has pointed to a strengthening economy has helped push stocks to record highs on both the Dow and S&P 500. The S&P 500 ended March with a record closing high and posted its best quarterly performance in a year, while the Dow broke into new record territory in early March.

"It was very difficult for the S&P 500 technically to break through that high level and to even close there, so it doesn't surprise me that today is a down day," said Brian Amidei, managing director at HighTower Advisors in Palm Desert, California. "I think there's a lot of resistance at the 1,565 level."

The benchmark S&P index remains below its record intraday high of 1,576.09. Moves may be limited this week in the absence of major catalysts before the closely watched U.S. monthly payrolls report on Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 5.69 points, or 0.04 percent, at 14,572.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 7.02 points, or 0.45 percent, at 1,562.17. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 28.35 points, or 0.87 percent, at 3,239.17.

Volume was second-lowest of the year, with roughly 5.16 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT. That compares with the 2012 average daily closing volume of about 6.45 billion. Decliners outpaced advancers on the NYSE by nearly 7 to 3 and on the Nasdaq by nearly 3 to 1.

For the year, the S&P is up 9.5 percent, the Dow is up 11.2 percent and the Nasdaq is up 7.3 percent.

With the strong start to the year, many investors have been anticipating a pullback. Uncertainty over the economic future of Cyprus has weighed on stocks in recent sessions. European markets were closed on Monday for a holiday.

Among the day's biggest gainers, Tesla Motors Inc surged 15.9 percent to $43.93 after forecasting full profitability in the first quarter, citing strong sales of its Model S sedan.

Decliners included Dell Inc , which warned that it would be dangerous to take on a lot of debt and remain a public company given its worsening profit outlook, in a sign that it views proposals from Blackstone Group LP and billionaire investor Carl Icahn as fraught with risk.

Shares of Dell dipped 0.2 percent to $14.30. Dell's comments came on Friday, a holiday for U.S. markets.

In the day's economic data, the Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity fell to 51.3 last month from 54.2 in February. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector.

A report from the Commerce Department showed construction spending rose more than expected in February, gaining 1.2 percent, above forecasts of a 1 percent rise.

After the close, shares of BGC Partners were up 42.3 percent at $5.48 after news of the sale of its eSpeed platform to Nasdaq OMX Group .

Also, shares of health insurers rallied after the bell as planned cuts in U.S. government payments for private Medicare Advantage insurers did not materialize.

Shares of Humana , which derives about two-thirds of its revenue from Medicare Advantage business, rose 9 percent to $81.75 in after-hours trading.

(Editing by Peter Galloway, Nick Zieminski and Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/futures-flat-p-near-time-high-113057546--sector.html

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