(Refiles with revised paragraph 2 making clear the Nigerian
man was charged with trying to blow up a U.S. jet)
* Holiday shopping better than expected, data shows
* Airlines slide after explosives attempt
* Dow off 0.06 pct, S&P off 0.2 pct, Nasdaq off 0.06 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click STXNEWS/US
(Updates to late afternoon, changes byline)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dipped on Monday
as airline shares faltered amid security worries, while losses
were limited by retail shopping data indicating improved
consumer spending.
Airline stocks fell as the United States tightened airline
security after a Nigerian man was charged with smuggling
explosives aboard a trans-Atlantic flight and attempting to
blow up the plane. For details, see [] AMR Corp
<AMR.N>, the parent of American Airlines, lost 5.9 percent to
$7.66.
On Monday afternoon, Al Qaeda's regional wing said it was
behind the failed Christmas Day attack, according to a Web
statement.
"The airlines security concerns from the weekend certainly
added a little heightened anxiety," said Micheal James, senior
trader at Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles.
James also said traders were locking in profits with many
investors absent from Wall Street over the holiday period.
On the store front, sales at U.S. retailers rose 3.6
percent for the period from Nov. 1 to Christmas Eve, but
gained only 1 percent when an extra shopping day this year was
excluded, data from MasterCard Advisors unit SpendingPulse
showed.[]
Macy's Inc <M.N> climbed 1.7 percent to $17.86 and the S&P
Retail index <.RLX> added 0.2 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> was down 6.20
points, or 0.06 percent, at 10,513.90. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was down 1.93 points, or 0.17 percent, at
1,124.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was down 1.37
points, or 0.06 percent, at 2,284.32.
Delta Air Lines Inc <DAL.N> dropped 5.4 percent to $11.14.
The NYSE Arca Airline index <.XAL> shed 2.7 percent.
Analysts said volume was light, with many participants off
for the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The S&P 500 is up
nearly 25 percent for the year, and investors are carefully
placing bets to make sure they don't erode profits.
Even with light volume, the market seems to holding
ground, said Tim Smalls, head of U.S. stock trading at
brokerage firm Execution LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut.
"Historically the last two weeks are strong, with this week
being stronger than last week," he said.
Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O> rose 0.7 percent to $139.40 after
it said customers bought more e-books than physical books for
the first time ever on Christmas Day. []
Energy shares rose with oil prices. U.S. oil futures
<CLc1> rose 72 cents to $78.77 a barrel. Energy shares gained
in sync with oil prices. The PHLX Oil Service index <.OSX>
advanced 0.3 percent.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)
