Wall Street pulls back after hefty gains

US stocks traded mainly lower Monday as investors locked in gains from a hefty multiweek rally and braced for new economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 106.97 points (1.25 percent) to 8,467.68 at 1455 GMT after the market chalked up gains in eight of the past nine weeks.
The Nasdaq composite erased early losses and rose 0.83 points (0.05 percent) to 1,739.83 while the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 11.89 points (1.28 percent) to 917.34.
"Profit taking is the name of the game on Wall Street this morning, as traders seek to capitalize on last week's 5.9 percent surge in the S&P 500 index," said Joseph Hargett at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
"There is also a little stress making its way around the trading pits, as The Wall Street Journal reported that US banks received concessions from the Fed regarding government demands for fresh capital."
The daily reported that the Federal Reserve scaled back the size of the capital hole facing some of the nation's biggest banks shortly before concluding its "stress tests," following two weeks of intense bargaining.
The rally extended last week in large part due to news that the stress tests on the banking system revealed relatively modest capital needs for big lenders.
Markets also awaited key economic news including Wednesday's report on US retail sales in April that will provide clues on whether consumer activity -- a key driver of the economy -- is growing in the second quarter despite the deep recession.
Other data this week include reports on inflation and the US trade balance.
Al Goldman at Wachovia Securities said the stock market "is very stretched out short term" with the S&P index up 37 percent since early March but argued that the long-term outlook remains positive.
"Momentum remains bullish and we thus will not get in its way or try to call even a short-term top until the market's personality changes," he said.