US stocks slip as market awaits key data, earnings

Wall Street stocks dipped Monday, edging down from records ahead of a trove of earnings reports and key economic data later in the week.

The Dow and S&P 500 finished at records Friday, but analysts said investors are unsure about whether the markets can go much higher, or if the expected US economic recovery is largely priced in.

Key data this week includes Tuesday's report on consumer prices as well as March retail sales and housing starts data.

Earnings from JPMorgan Chase and other large banks are expected to be strong, but again there are questions about whether the results are already priced in, said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

The market is in "wait and see" mode, O'Hare said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.2 per cent to close at 33,745.40.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1 per cent to 4,127.99, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.4 per cent to end at 13,850.00.

Among individual companies, Nuance Communications surged 16 per cent after it agreed to be acquired by Microsoft for $19.7 billion. The deal represents "the latest step in Microsoft's industry-specific cloud strategy," Microsoft said.

Shares of Microsoft were flat.

Intel fell 4.2 percent after rival Nvidia announced plans for new semiconductor investments that directly challenge Intel's product slate. Nvidia jumped 5.6 percent.