Stocks Lose Ground on Worries About Economy's Path (ext: ABCNews)

The stock market is holding up, just not pressing ahead as the economic signs look a little less promising. The Federal Reserve said the pace of economic decline is slowly moderating, but that did little for investors weary from a drop in oil prices and Chinese stocks Wednesday.

Stocks had their fourth straight day of incremental moves as commodity prices slid and orders for big-ticket manufactured goods fell, injecting more economic uncertainty into the market.

Investors are uneasy but aren't giving up on stocks. The Dow Jones industrials lost only 26 points on Wednesday and major indexes are still up about 11 percent since only mid-July. Analysts say the market's buoyancy after such a big gain is a welcome sign of stability, but also that more good news is needed for stocks to resume their climb.

For now, though, investors are finding more reasons for concern. The price of oil and raw materials fell after stocks tumbled in China on fears that the growth in that country's economy would slow. That could hurt demand for a range of commodities. A jump in U.S. crude inventories further weighed on the price of oil.

Traders are facing an intense seven-day run of economic data that will help shape views about how quickly the economy can pull out of the longest recession since World War II. On Thursday, weekly unemployment figures are due and a reading of the economy's overall output for the April-June quarter comes on Friday. Next week, reports are expected on manufacturing, housing, employment and the service industry.

Manny Weintraub, president of Integre Advisors in New York, said some good numbers could bring out more buyers becuase investors are betting on what the economy will look like in the near future, not what it looks like now.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ultimately fell 26 points, or 0.3%, to 9070.72, and the S&P 500 gave up 4.47 points, or 0.5%, to 975.15. The Nasdaq Composite edged down 7.75 points, or 0.4%, to 1967.76.

Light, sweet crude slid $3.88 to settle at $63.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"The market rally may consolidate for the next several weeks -- some up days and some down, and even a mild correction -- but overall we are headed higher on stocks by year-end," writes Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.