* Kimberly-Clark, Johnson Controls fall after outlooks
* SanDisk shares rally following results
* Energy, material sectors among the day's weakest
* Dow off 0.2 pct, S&P off 0.2 pct, Nasdaq up 0.2 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
(Updates to close)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - In the lightest volume
session of the year, U.S. stocks fell after a lowered outlook
from Kimberly-Clark heightened concerns about higher commodity
costs squeezing profits in coming quarters.
About 5.34 billion shares traded on the New York Stock
Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below the
daily average of 7.74 billion.
Kimberly-Clark <KMB.N> fell 2.7 percent to $64.24 after it
cut the low end of its full-year outlook because the costs of
pulp and other goods rose more than twice as much as it had
expected. For details, see []
The threat of rising commodity costs will remain in the
spotlight for one of the busiest weeks of earnings, with 180
S&P 500 companies scheduled to report this week, including
other major consumer names like Procter & Gamble <PG.N> and
Colgate-Palmolive <CL.N>.
"That is going to be the next thing that happens -- the
forward guidance is going to start to become impacted because
of higher prices," said Ken Polcari, managing director of ICAP
Equities in New York.
"This non-existent inflation that (the Federal Reserve)
keeps talking about is elusive, because there clearly is much
more inflation than they care to admit at the moment."
Kimberly-Clark, maker of Kleenex tissue and Huggies
disposable diapers, is among companies highly vulnerable to
rising commodity costs because its products contain oil-based
materials and paper.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> dropped 26.11
points, or 0.21 percent, to 12,479.88. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> shed 2.13 points, or 0.16 percent, to
1,335.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> gained 5.72
points, or 0.20 percent, to 2,825.88.
Johnson Controls Inc <JCI.N> fell 2.8 percent to $39.60
after the company, one of the world's largest auto suppliers,
said its fiscal third-quarter results would be hit by a drop
in car production following the earthquake in Japan.
[] Japan's earthquake has disrupted the supply of
auto parts and forced auto companies to idle plants.
Through Monday, 75 percent of the 151 companies in the S&P
500 that have reported results have beaten analysts'
expectations. That is just above the average over the past
four quarters but well above the average of 62 percent since
1994, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The Nasdaq edged higher, boosted by SanDisk Corp <SNDK.O>,
up 1.6 percent at $49.78 after raising its 2011 margin outlook
late on Thursday. []
But energy and materials companies' shares ranked among
the worst performers, with the PHLX oil service sector index
<.OSX> off 0.9 percent and the S&P Materials Index <.GSPM>
down 0.7 percent. Oil prices slipped in thin, choppy trade as
a sell-off in silver from near record highs lifted the dollar
off its lows, prompting a bout of profit taking in crude.
[]
The CBOE Volatility Index <.VIX> rose 7.4 percent after
falling last week to its lowest level since 2007.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
To see a graphic on first-quarter earnings:
http://r.reuters.com/dup98r
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This week is another hectic one for earnings, including
Amazon.com <AMZN.O>, Coca-Cola Co <KO.N>, Microsoft Corp
<MSFT.O> along with a host of energy companies such as Exxon
Mobil Corp <XOM.N> and Chevron Corp <CVX.N>.
Energy companies' earnings are featured this week, Polcari
pointed out.
"They are all projected to be better because of high oil
prices and all that stuff -- great for them, but not good for
anyone else," Polcari added.
The week's agenda includes a two-day meeting of the U.S.
Federal Reserve's policymaking committee on Tuesday and
Wednesday. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold the first of
four annual press conferences on Wednesday after the Federal
Open Market Committee's meeting ends.
Investors will look for clues about the direction of
monetary policy when the Fed's bond buying program ends in
June.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by
1,640 to 1,379, while on the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers
by 1,401 to 1,185.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)
