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U.S. stocks retreat before Europe fund vote
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By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks opened lower Tuesday, retreating after the prior day’s rally, ahead of a vote in Slovakia on increasing the size and abilities of Europe’s bailout fund.

The vote on approving the expanded European Financial Stability Facility fund involves the last of 17 euro members nations to do so. An initial vote was expected to fail, but the leader of Slovakia’s biggest opposition party calmed worries by expressing confidence the deal would be ratified.
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“We have seen stock prices quickly move out of a deeply oversold zone primarily on news coming out of Europe. Given the strength of the recent weeklong rally, near-term U.S. stock prices appear a bit extended,” Fred Dickson, chief investment strategist at Davidson Cos., wrote in an emailed note. Read more on Slovakia.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.16% fell 52.30 points, or 0.5%, to 11,380.88, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM -0.40% fronting losses that included all but three of the Dow’s 30 components.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index SPX +0.13% declined 7.56 points, or 0.6%, to 1,187.33, with financial companies down the most among its 10 industry groups.

The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP +0.67% dropped 7.36 points, or 0.3%, to 2,558.69.

Decliners outpaced advancers by a near 4-to-1 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange, where 63 million shares traded by 9:45 a.m. Eastern.

After the close, aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. AA +2.09% will release quarterly results in kicking off the third-quarter earnings season.

Car-rental company Dollar Thrift Automotive Group Inc. DTG -2.17% said it would continue on its own after getting no further offers from Hertz Global Holdings Inc. HTZ +2.98% or others by its Monday deadline.

U.S. stocks on Monday rose 3% after German and French leaders vowed to devise a strategy to confront the region’s debt trouble, pushing the S&P 500 above its 50-day moving average for the first time in more than two months.

Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.

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