U.S. stocks on sharp losses following weak

U.S. stocks on Friday after heavy losses compared weak March retail sales and consumer confidence data, but the rebound was not enough to extend the winning streak of the week for one more day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI: DJIA) fell 0.08 points to close at 14,865.06, breaking a streak of three days of closure of the highest of all time, with 17 of the 30 components trading lower. Earlier, the index hit an intraday low of 14,790.57. Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) and DuPont (NYSE: DD) led the index lower with a 1.2% and a decrease of 0.9%, respectively.

The S & P 500 (SNC: SPX) lost 4.52 points, or 0.3%, to close at 1588.85, snapping a two-day streak of record closing highs, with energy stocks and materials weight the index. Earlier, the S & P 500 hit an intraday low of 1579.97. Consumer-driven stocks, utilities and telecoms were positive in the day, back the trend of the year where defensive sectors have overcome cyclical stocks.

The Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: COMP) fell 5.21 points, or 0.2%, to close at 3294.95, after trading as low as 3,271.02 during the session.

Furthermore, the three won the week with the Dow industrials up 2.1%, the S & P 500 2.3% increase, and the Nasdaq advanced 2.8%.

The shares came under pressure after the publication of consumer data.

March retail sales fell 0.4%, versus expectations of sales decline by 0.1% after increasing 1.1% in

February. Although stocks rallied more than 12% this year, a lingering concern is consumer spending, which risks faltering in the wake of higher payroll taxes and unpaid furloughs to workers government.

Moreover, consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in nine months, as the University of Michigan.

Thomson Reuters index fell to a preliminary reading of 72.3 in April, well below the 79.3 expected, compared with 78.6 March.

So far, investors have been dazzled by record levels in the Dow Jones and the S & P 500, but weaker economic data may be taking some of the qualities of the demonstration.

"It used to ISM and nonfarm payrolls, this morning were retail sales, now is the consumer sentiment," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC in New York, in emailed comments. 

"U.S. investors have completely ignored these facts, at least with respect to the holder of the S & P 500. Yet the evidence continues to mount that all the optimism on the economy, consumption and investment may be a bit premature" .

Moreover, the attitude of investors are now more oriented to shake the bad news, unlike 2008 and 2009, when investors were watching the wrong even good news, said John Canally, investment strategist and economist at LPL Financial .

"Now, it's almost exactly the opposite," said Canally, comparing today is peeling losses last Friday in March when added fewer jobs than expected.

Also Friday, the Labor Department said producer prices fell March sharper than expected 0.6% in March, seasonally adjusted energy prices falling by 3.4%.

Stock futures Friday had been heading lower before the opening after Dow component JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) quarterly results beat Wall Street estimates, but not enough for investors. Shares fell 0.5%.

Index futures had moderated some losses after
 Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren - a strong supporter of the Fed's bond-buying program and a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee - made in the case of not pushing brake on the current central bank policy.

In a speech at a Fed conference in Boston economy, Rosengren said that "we are well above our target and unemployment well below our inflation target, so highly accommodative policy is appropriate and necessary."

For each population of two advances the New York Stock Exchange, three declined, with a volume of 700 million shares filler. On the Nasdaq, it was the same, with a volume of just over 390 million. Composite volume exceeded 3.2 billion of shares by the New York Stock Exchange and 1.4 billion shares on Nasdaq at the close.