* Profit-taking, Baidu weigh on market
* October consumer confidence data disappoints
* Exxon, Chevron lift Dow after BP's strong results
* Dow up 0.1 pct; S&P 500 off 0.3 pct; Nasdaq off 1.2 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click []
(Updates to close)
By Ellis Mnyandu
NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq
fell on Tuesday as investors booked profits following the
stock market's recent run-up, while a weaker-than-expected
reading on a measure of consumer confidence sparked caution
about the recovery of spending.
Technology and consumer discretionary shares fared worse
than the broader market as investors sold recent winners.
Baidu Inc's <BIDU.O> disappointing outlook added to the
negative tone for tech names. The semiconductor index <.SOXX>
shed 2.5 percent.
Even so, the Dow Jones industrial average <> eked out
a slim gain as shares of Exxon Mobil <XOM.N> and Chevron
<CVX.N>, both set to report quarterly results later this week,
rose on the back of BP Plc's <BP.L><BP.N> strong earnings. For
details, see []
The day's declines marked the third straight day of losses
for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
"People want to take some profits. The consumer confidence
numbers weren't great," said Stephen Carl, principal and head
of U.S. equity trading at The Williams Capital Group LP in New
York. "We had a good run with the Dow topping around 10,000
over the last week. Many people feel the market could be
overvalued."
The Dow Jones industrial average <> gained 14.21
points, or 0.14 percent, to 9,882.17. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> fell 3.54 points, or 0.33 percent, to
1,063.41. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> declined 25.76
points, or 1.20 percent, to 2,116.09.
International Business Machines Corp <IBM.N> gave the Dow
an additional prop by announcing an increase in its stock-buyback plan to $9.2 billion. IBM shares rose 0.5 percent to
$120.65.
The S&P 500 is now up 57.2 percent from the 12-year
closing low of March 9, having slipped from its recovery peak
when it was up 62.3 percent from that significant low.
Baidu, the Chinese Web Search company's stock, down 11.4
percent at $383.66, was the second-worst drag on the Nasdaq,
behind Apple Inc <AAPL.O>, which fell 2.5 percent to $197.37.
Shares of Google Inc<GOOG.O> , the world's leading Web
Search company, declined 1.1 percent to $548.29, a day after
Baidu forecast a sequential decline in fourth-quarter
revenue.
But Exxon Mobil shares shot up 2.3 percent to $74.91,
while Chevron shares climbed 1.5 percent to $76.59 following
BP's results. The energy sector also got a boost from a bounce
in crude oil prices.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, December crude
<CLZ9> ended up 87 cents, or 1.11 percent, at $79.55 a
barrel.
On the economic front, the Conference Board's index of
consumer confidence fell to 47.7 in October, weaker than
economists had forecast. The data showed consumers were
increasingly concerned about job market conditions. For
details, see []
The S&P retail index <.RLX> fell 1.6 percent and the S&P
consumer discretionaries index <.GSPD> dropped 1.7 percent.
Other data showed home prices rose for the fourth-straight
month in August. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller composite
index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas rose more than
expected in August. []
(Editing by Jan Paschal)
(Ellis.Mnyandu@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 6085;
Reuters Messaging:ellis.mnyandu.reuters.com@reuters.net))
