Wall St dips after 4-day rally, retailers weigh

Reuters
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange June 18, 2014. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks lost ground on Thursday after four straight days of gains sent the S&P 500 to another record high, with forecasts from companies including Coach weighing on consumer discretionary shares. Coach Inc's COH.N stock dropped 9.2 percent to $35.57 and was the biggest percentage decliner on the S&P 500. The upscale retailer said during an investor day presentation it expected revenue to fall by low double digits in percentage terms for the year ending June 2015. It also said it would close 70 underperforming stores. The S&P retail index was down 0.2 percent, while the S&P consumer discretionary index was down 0.4 percent. The benchmark S&P index was on track to break a four-day string of gains. "Coach and Pier 1 are having a negative impact on the consumer sector in general and high-end retail specifically," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles. "It's not as if everything in retail is a disaster but I think it's a sign the consumer is challenged, and despite that the economy overall is doing pretty well." Shares of Pier 1 Imports shed 13.2 percent to $15.85 after it cut its full-year earnings forecast. Shares of Michael Kors KORS.N were down 2.3 percent at $88.69. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 37.82 points or 0.22 percent, to 16,868.8, the S&P 500 lost 3.34 points or 0.17 percent, to 1,953.64 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 19.75 points or 0.45 percent, to 4,343.08. On the plus side, U.S.-listed shares of BlackBerry jumped 11.7 percent to $9.26 after the company's first-quarter loss was smaller than expected. Economic data did little to influence the day's move. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 312,000, slightly below the 314,000 forecast. Factory activity in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region grew at a faster pace than expected in June. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said its business activity index jumped to 17.8 from 15.4 in May, above the forecast for a reading of 14. (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski) (Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)