US stocks fell overnight with the Dow and S&P 500 suffering their worst one-day fall in three months after economic reports fueled doubts about the strength of the recovery. Cyclical stocks were among the worst performers, including technology and bank shares. The Dow Jones industrial lost 203 points to 9,509. The S&P500 Index dropped 27 points to 1,030 and the NASDAQ fell 65 points to 2,057.
In economic news: The Institute for Supply Management's September Index fell to 52.6 from 52.9 in August.
Also on the downside, the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment increased to 551,000 from 534,000 the previous week.
In some upside news, the index of pending home sales from the National Association of Realtors rose 6.4% in August versus a 3.2% increase the previous month.
A Commerce Department report found personal income increased 0.2% after rising 0.2% in the previous month. Spending rose 1.3% after rising 0.3% in the previous month.
Another government report showed construction spending edged up 0.8% in August after falling 1.1% in July. In company news: Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) shares slipped 4.2% to $16.21 as the bank’s Chief Executive Ken Lewis said he was retiring after months of being dogged by a series of government investigations into the company's acquisition of Merrill Lynch. The company is yet to name a successor.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares fell 1.91% to $23.09 after the computer software maker said its buying Norway's Tandberg ASA, a video conferencing hardware maker, for $3 billion in cash.
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) shares dropped 7.17% to $15.67 as the company disputed reports that it’s in talks to buy part of General Electric’s NBC Universal. Ford Motor (NYSE:F) shares lost 3.33% to $6.97. The automakers were reporting September sales results throughout the trading day. Sales were hit by the end of the government's Cash for Clunkers program and diminished inventories. However Ford proved to be the best performer after saying its sales fell just 5% from a year earlier.
Checking the NASDAQ Top 100: The only company that finished slightly higher overnight was Dish Network adding 0.52% to $19.36. Liberty Media and Directv were the next closest but still closed lower.
The biggest drag was Vertex Pharmaceuticals, it lost 9.74% to $34.21. Marvell Technology and Wynn Resorts also closed lower.
