Markets dip after weeklong rally

NEW YORK – Investors pulled money out of stocks after a five-day rally left the market at its highest levels in nearly a year.

Even with the latest surge, stocks have little to show for the past decade. Eight years to the day after the 9/11 terror attacks, the Dow Jones industrial average finished within one-tenth of a point where it ended on Sept. 10, 2001, illustrating how hard markets have been hit by the recession.

Stocks slipped in quiet trading Friday after the recent string of gains and a drop in oil prices. Crude slid 3.7 percent, which hurt energy stocks like Exxon Mobil Corp. That overshadowed a rosier profit forecast from FedEx Corp. and a government report on improving sales at wholesalers.

Even with the losses, stocks still logged big gains for the week.

The forecast from FedEx is important because its delivery business is seen as an indicator of how healthy the economy is. FedEx cited stronger international shipments and cost-cutting for the improvement. Investors track demand at industrial companies because rising orders would be one of the first signals that the economy is strengthening.

Separately, the Commerce Department reported that sales at the wholesale level rose in July by the biggest amount in more than a year, even though inventories fell for a record 11th straight month.

The gains in industrial stocks came at the expense of areas that have been leaders in the market’s six-month rally such as technology and financial shares.

“The market always overshoots on either side. I think we’re at the point in the move where we need to see the fundamentals catch up to support these levels,” said Sean Simko, head of fixed income management at SEI Investments in Oaks, Pa. “In the short term, the market is going to take a little breather.”

The S&P 500 index is up 54.1 percent since hitting a 12-year low in March, although it is still down 33.4 percent from its peak in October 2007.