By Ryan Vlastelica
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks declined on Monday as disappointing reports from Verizon
All three major U.S. stock indexes scored a second straight weekly advance on Friday, with the Dow rising 4 percent, the S&P 500 gaining 4.1 percent and the Nasdaq climbing 4.2 percent. For the two weeks through Friday's close, each of the major indexes was up about 11 percent.
"I think we've come a little too far," said Chip Hanlon, the president of Delta Global Advisors in Huntington Beach, California. "The movement today is mostly a reaction to last week's movement."
Verizon Communications reported second-quarter earnings that fell from a year ago and said it would cut 8,000 jobs in its landline business. The stock fell 2.6 percent to $30.68 and was the top drag on the Dow.
Aetna shares shed 4.5 percent to $25.25 after the company, one of the biggest U.S. providers of employer-based health insurance, cut its full-year outlook, citing higher-than-projected medical costs.
Hanlon said that despite the stock market's slight decline, "it's a surprisingly strong market today. I think the market is continuing to price in the notion that the economy is slowly on the mend."
Stronger-than-expected earnings, coupled with data suggesting an economic recovery could be around the corner, have lifted indexes over the last two weeks, giving stocks their best two-week run since just after the S&P 500 hit a 12-year closing low in the beginning of March.
Also influencing the market's mood: Sales of new single-family homes in the United States rose more than expected in June, while the inventory of homes for sale fell to more than an 11-year low.
The data drove the Dow Jones U.S. home construction index <.DJUSHB> up 3.5 percent to 256.83.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 27.58 points, or 0.30 percent, to 9,065.66. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> dropped 2.98 points, or 0.30 percent, to 976.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> slid 9.60 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,956.36.
After Verizon, the biggest drag on the Dow was Boeing Co
(Editing by Jan Paschal)
