S&P slips after record close

Even as the S&P 500 Index sits near a record, analyst forecasts just turned negative for a sixth straight quarter for corporate results in the three months ending in September.

Steadily falling profits are causing valuations to jump in the benchmark gauge for American equity.

Analysts tracked by Bloomberg have lowered forecasts by 2.9 percentage points since the end of June and now anticipate profits will contract by 0.6% in the third quarter, putting US large-cap stocks on track for the longest profit slump since the financial crisis.