Dour investors retreat amid little news

0 Comments | USA TODAY, May, 2007 | by Matt Krantz

The best month for stocks since 2003 ended with a whimper Monday as investors looked beyond strong first-quarter corporate earnings and toward mixed economic reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average gave up an early-day gain and wound up losing 58.03 points to 13,062.91, snapping a four-day winning streak that included three consecutive record closes. Even after the day's loss, the Dow gained 5.7% during April and is up 4.8% for the year.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index also fell, losing 11.70 points to 1482.37. The S&P is still up 4.3% for April and 4.5% for the year. The Nasdaq composite lost 32.12 points to 2525.09, which narrowed its April gain to 4.3% and its 2007 gain to 4.5%.

A pullback was overdue, given how much the stock market had gone...