New York, Sep 12 (DPA) US stocks edged lower Friday after five straight days of gains, signalling some lingering concerns about the economy among investors despite upbeat consumer confidence figures.
An index by the University of Michigan and Reuters found consumer confidence climbed to 70.2 in September from 65.7 in August, beating analysts' expectations.
Financial shares were the top losers on the day. Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase led the declines.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.07 points, or 0.23 percent, to 9,605.41. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 dropped 1.41 points, or 0.14 percent, to 1,042.73. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 3.12 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,080.9.
Stocks had climbed to their highest levels of the year during a shortened trading week in New York because of the US Labour Day holiday Monday. The Dow climbed 1.7 percent in the last four days, the S&P 500 was up 2.6 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 3.1 percent.
The US currency was unchanged against the euro at 68.60 euro cents and fell to 90.63 Japanese yen from 91.75 yen.