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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Stocks get slow New Year’s start

Steve Rothwell Associated Press

NEW YORK – Stocks got off to a sluggish start on the first day of trading in the New Year, ending the day mixed as a report showed that manufacturing growth slowed in December.

U.S. factory activity grew at the slowest pace in six months last month, weakened by declines in orders and production, according to the Institute for Supply Management. While the sector is still in good health, growth was slower than economists had forecast.

The stock market climbed to record levels at the end of 2014 and investors may now be reassessing the outlook for the market at the start of the year, said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial, an independent broker-dealer firm.

Investors are “stepping back and saying, ‘Now we’re in the New Year, let’s take a fresh look,’ ” said McMillan. “There’s certainly some degree of, I wouldn’t say pessimism, but readjustment, going on.”

On Friday, stocks started out with solid gains, then fell back after the ISM published its manufacturing report.

U.S. crude prices dropped 58 cents to $52.69 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, declined 91 cents to $56.42.

The fall in prices will mean that oil companies will rein in spending on plants and equipment, said Anastasia Amoroso, global market strategist for J.P. Morgan Funds.

“The benefit of lower oil prices is incremental to the damage that they inflict on other parts of the economy,” Amoroso said.