US STOCKS-Wall St flat after biggest selloff in three months

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06/01/2015 15:17

* Services sector expands at slowest rate since Feb -Markit 
    * ISM services short of expectations 
    * Factory orders fall for fourth straight month 
    * Indexes: Dow up 0.1 pct, S&P up 0.08 pct, Nasdaq off 0.2 
pct 
 
 (Updates to market open, adds data, changes byline) 
    By Chuck Mikolajczak 
    NEW YORK, Jan 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed 
on Tuesday a day after Wall Street suffered its biggest drop 
since early October and as data showed the pace of  momentum in 
the U.S. economy had slowed. 
    Financial data firm Markit's final reading on U.S. services 
sector growth fell in December to 53.3, its lowest since 
February, from the preliminary 53.6 reading and the 56.2 in 
November. A separate gauge from the Institute of Supply 
Management also fell short of expectations while factory orders 
fell for a fourth straight month. 
 ID:nL1N0UL0V9  ID:nN9N0T400E  ID:nL1N0UK19F  
    The main headwinds for equities remain unresolved as crude 
prices continue to fall and an election in Greece, which may 
trigger its exit from the euro zone, is some three weeks ahead, 
said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities 
in New York. 
    "That adds to the concern the euro zone is facing an 
economic slowdown and some of the weaker members have more debt 
than they can handle," said Hogan. 
    Speaking of the sharp decline in oil prices in recent 
months, Hogan said there is concern "there is something larger 
at play rather than just the market dynamic of oil. 
    "People think there must be a much larger global economic 
slowdown to cause this, and the reaction is to sell equities." 
    Crude oil prices continued their descent on Tuesday, with 
Brent  LCOc1  down as much as 3.5 percent and U.S. crude  CLc1  
down as much as 3.1 percent. Both were recently down more than 2 
percent.  O/R  
    The S&P 500 fell 1.8 percent on Monday to post its worst day 
in almost three months, with energy shares  .SPNY  leading the 
decline as swooning oil prices compounded global economic 
concerns. The energy sector of the S&P 500 fell 4 percent. 
    The Dow Jones industrial average  .DJI  rose 17.23 points, 
or 0.1 percent, to 17,518.88, the S&P 500  .SPX  gained 1.56 
points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,022.14 and the Nasdaq Composite 
 .IXIC  dropped 9.25 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,643.32. 
    AOL Inc  AOL.N  shares rose 5.5 percent to $47.20 the day 
after a report that Verizon Communications  VZ.N  approached AOL 
about a potential acquisition or joint venture. The Bloomberg 
story cited people with knowledge of the matter.  ID:nL1N0UL02D  
    CytRx Corp  CYTR.O  shares jumped 21.1 percent to $3.45  
after preliminary findings showed its experimental cancer drug 
was effective on a small group of patients with a deadly form of 
brain cancer.  ID:nL3N0UL49B  
    Shares of Minerva Neurosciences  NERV.O  surged 41.7 percent 
to $8.50 the day after data showed an analog of the company's 
experimental compound showed improvements in treating symptoms 
of Parkinson's disease in primates. 
    Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 
1,422 to 1,391, for a 1.02-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the 
Nasdaq, 1,516 issues fell and 892 advanced for a 1.70-to-1 ratio 
favoring decliners. 
    The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 11 new 52-week highs 
and 9 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 22 new highs 
and 24 new lows.   
 
 
 (Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Chizu 
Nomiyama, Nick Zieminski and Meredith Mazzilli) 
 ((rodrigo.campos@reuters.com; @rodrigocampos; +1.646.223.6344; 
Reuters Messaging: 
rodrigo.campos.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
  
((==============================================================  
For running updates on moving U.S. stocks:........  WATCH/US  
==============================================================  
For other U.S. market data and news:  
 U.S. Equities speed guide........................ US/EQUITY   
 S&P 500 index ........................................ .SPX   
 Dow Jones industrial average.......................... .DJI   
 Nasdaq Composite index............................... .IXIC   
 Nasdaq 100............................................ .NDX   
 Thomson Reuters US Index ....................... .TRXFLDUSP  
 Russell 2000 small cap................................ .RUT   
 S&P major sectors.............................. 0#.GSPMAJOR   
 NYSE most active..................................... .AV.N   
 Nasdaq most active................................... .AV.O   
 Top NYSE pct gainers................................. .PG.N   
 Top NYSE pct losers.................................. .PL.N   
 Top Nasdaq pct gainers............................... .PG.O   
 Top Nasdaq pct losers................................ .PL.O   
 52 week highs:  
    NYSE............... t.YH.N   Nasdaq.............. t.YH.O   
 52 week lows:  
    NYSE............... t.YL.N   Nasdaq.............. t.YL.O   
  
    Main global stock indexes and market reports:  
 FTSE Eurotop 300 ..... .FTEU3   European report ....... .EU   
 Nikkei 225............. .N225   Tokyo report............ .T   
 FTSE 100............... .FTSE   London report........... .L   
 Xetra DAX............. .GDAXI   Frankfurt market stories .F   
 CAC-40................. .FCHI   Paris market stories... .PA   
 World Indices..................................... 0#.INDEX   
 Reuters survey of world bourse outlook......... EQUITYPOLL1   
 U.S. IPO diary........................................ IPO/   
 U.S. Asset Allocation Table....................... US/ASSET   
  
 More Reuters News on equities at a glance:  
 Equities ............ E    US company news......... TOP/EQU   
  
    Key non-equities market reports:  
 Foreign exchange...................................... FRX/   
 Oil.................................................... O/R   
 US Treasuries......................................... US/N   
 International bonds................................... EUB/   
 Gold....................................... GOL/X  or  GOL/   
 )) 
 
Keywords: MARKETS STOCKS/USA