U.S. stocks finished April poorly.
May 1, 2012- Wall Street was in the red on Monday, ending the month of April on a down note. The first three months of the year all ended with solid gains, but April saw all three major indexes have their worst month of 2012.
In April, the Dow was flat, while the Nasdaq lost 1.5% and the S&P 500 lost nearly 1%. Prior to April, the indexes had posted a minimum gain of 2% in each month this year. Investors in April however, received a number of economic reports about the U.S. that suggested the recovery was stalling, including a lower than expected jobs report for March and more signs that trouble is still brewing in Europe.
One investment strategist said it was like watching a rerun of a movie from 2010 and 2011, as economic data softened and concerns about Europe were on the increase. Losses on Monday were due to a pair of weak reports about the U.S. economy and news that the economy in Spain is now in a recession.
The Dow was off on Monday by 15 points, while the Nasdaq dipped 23 points and the S&P 500 fell by 5 points. Investors will most likely be on the cautious side this week, amidst a large amount of economic data and Friday’s jobs report for April. Economists estimate that 162,000 new jobs were added to the economy during April, which is an increase from the prior month, but is still slower than gains from December through February.
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