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Friday May 26 3:12 PM ET Stocks Dip As Traders Settle Positions

Stocks Dip As Traders Settle Positions

By Kristin Roberts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dipped in late afternoon trading on Friday, easing in listless action as investors settled their positions ahead of the long holiday weekend.

Volume was feather-light and analysts warned against making much of the session's moves.

``Nothing, zero, nada is going on,'' said Charles Payne, head analysts at independent market research firm Wall Street Strategies. ``This is really like watch paint dry. It's the holiday and the fact that Friday's have been notoriously bad. Nobody's taking stock home over the weekend.''

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With just more than an hour before the closing bell, the Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - news) was off 18 points, or 0.18 percent, at 10,304.

J.P. Morgan & Co. (NYSE:JPM - news) was the Dow's biggest loser, falling 3-1/8 to 125-7/8 along with other bank and brokerage shares.

Technology stocks also edged lower, pushing the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC - news) down 15 points, or 0.49 percent, to 3,190. Qualcomm Inc. (NasdaqNM:QCOM - news) was Nasdaq's most active stock and a big loser, falling 4-7/16 at 64-9/16.

Broader measures of the market also rolled back as volume dried up. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^SPX - news) fell 3 points, or 0.26 percent to 1,377 while the Wilshire 5000 index (^TMW - news) lost 43 points, or 0.34 percent, to 12,603.

``The only thing I really liked about this session was how the market fought back from the lows,'' Payne said. ``Any other day this week, we would have sunk so that's a good sign.''

As traders headed home for the Memorial Day holiday weekend to start summer, stock trading volume dried up. The New York Stock Exchange saw just 585.8 million shares change hands while the Nasdaq logged 854.5 million shares.

One of the more active stocks was Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news), down 1/2 at 61. The company said it would delay its next generation Windows strategy announcement by three weeks, citing an expected decree from the federal court in the government's antitrust case.

Concerns about inflation and Federal Reserve action lingered. Wall Street analysts said a batch of economic data released before the market opened did not show the U.S. economy's growth is letting up enough to appease inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that orders for big ticket items dropped in April while an increase had been expected, but personal spending rose by a larger-than-forecast amount.

Although the durable goods orders decline by the fastest rate in more than eight years could suggest some slowing in the economy, analysts warned that the data is notoriously volatile.

Personal spending, a more closely-watched figure as consumption is a key driver of the economy, remained steady in April, rising 0.4 percent. Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected only a 0.3 percent rise.

The bond market closed at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT). The 10-year U.S. Treasury note gained 16/32 with the yield falling to 6.32 percent from Thursday's close of 6.40 percent. The 30-year bond strengthened 25/32 with the yield falling to 6.05 percent from Thursday's close of 6.05 percent.

In other markets, crude oil prices rose after posting fresh two-month highs on worries over gasoline shortages heading into the peak U.S. summer driving demand season.

Transportation stocks fell lower as oil prices rose. The Dow Jones transportation average (^DJT - news) lost 1.12 percent to 2,687. The American Stock Exchange's airline index (^XAL - news) fell 1 percent to 156.

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