Wall Street edges down after Japanese data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dipped on Monday after the S&P 500's six-day run of gains as data showed Japan's economy growing much less than expected in the second quarter.

Japan's gross domestic product expanded just 0.3 percent in April-June, half the pace expected, raising doubts about the strength of the recovery and highlighting the impact of Europe's debt crisis on worldwide demand.

Stocks' recent gains have relied on investor hopes for central bank easing amid signs of global economic weakness.

"Japan was a little weaker than expected. It might raise hopes that there might be some central bank coordination, but I'm not seeing that in any of the markets today," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

"We are a bit extended. We just need a little bit of settling back down after a fairly substantial run-up."

Late on Friday, the president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve said the Fed should launch a fresh round of bond buying to lower the U.S. unemployment rate more quickly, fuelling speculation that the central bank could soon unveil a new round of quantitative easing.

The benchmark S&P index had risen 2.99 percent over the prior six sessions, its longest rally since December 2010, but gains have slowed, with the index hovering at highs not seen since May.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> slipped 23.13 points, or 0.18 percent, to 13,184.82. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> slipped 1.95 points, or 0.14 percent, to 1,403.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> gained 0.67 point, or 0.02 percent, to 3,021.53.

Swiss private bank Julius Baer is to buy Bank of America's Merrill Lynch wealth manager outside the United States, paying 860 million Swiss francs ($882 million) for the loss-making business to boost by 40 percent its assets managed. Julius Baer plans to raise 1.19 billion Swiss francs ($1.22 billion) in new capital for the deal.

Bank of America shares rose 0.9 percent to $7.81.

Motorola Mobility has told employees it plans to slash 20 percent of its workforce and shut down nearly a third of its offices worldwide, the New York Times reported. Shares of parent company Google Inc advanced 1.3 percent to $650.76.

Comverse Technology Inc said it had agreed to be acquired by Verint Systems Inc following the planned spin-off of its Comverse Inc telecom business. Comverse shares gained 3.5 percent to $5.90.

Japan's Tokyo Electron Limited said it will acquire chip-equipment maker FSI International Inc for $252.5 million in cash to add a key technology to its chipmaking capabilities.

Chinese display-advertising provider Focus Media Holding Ltd said it received an offer from a private equity group that includes the company's chief executive, Jason Nanchun Jiang, to take it private.

Sysco Corp shares gained 3.6 percent at $29.89 before market's open after the food distributor reported fourth-quarter earnings.

According to Thomson Reuters data through Monday, of the 454 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported second-quarter earnings to date 68 percent have reported earnings above analyst expectations, matching the beat rate for the last four quarters.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-index-futures-signal-dip-early-trade-075554917--finance.html

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