Investors take a breather

US STOCK investors took a breather yesterday afternoon, pulling back a little to chew over the previous session’s gains and a number of deals and downgrades in telecom and media.

Around 1.25pm ET, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 163.10 to 8,827.69; the Dow was up more than 200 points on Monday.

The Nasdaq composite fell 22.79 to 1,371.75, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gave back 18.18 to 932.66.

“There’s no big news that’s upsetting the market. We’ve moved more than 15 percent from the lows of several weeks ago and had a strong run yesterday (Monday), so the shorts may be taking advantage of that,” said Ned Riley, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors. “A lot of the good news of the past week has been absorbed, such as the CEO certification.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners topped advancers nearly 9-to-5 as 755 million shares changed hands. On the Nasdaq, losers beat winners by almost 8-to-5 as 792 million shares traded.