* Commodities prices fall, hitting resources companies
* Merck tumbles on disappointing drug news
* Marathon Oil rallies on plan to split off operations
* Dow down 0.2 pct, S&P down 0.17 pct, Nasdaq off 0.07 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
(Updates Intel price action, adds details in paragraph 3,
updates volume)
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged lower on
Thursday, hurt by a slide in drugmaker Merck and as falling
commodities prices hit shares of natural resource companies.
The S&P 500, however, held near 28-month highs as investors
saw stocks' upward trend continuing, focusing on expectations
for strong earnings.
Intel Corp <INTC.O> confirmed those bets as it posted
better-than-expected quarterly earnings and forecast strong
revenue for the coming quarter after the closing bell. Its
shares rose 2.7 percent to $21.87 following a 0.06 percent dip
during regular trading hours. For details see [].
During Thursday's session copper prices retreated from
recent highs on concerns of slowing demand from China. Freeport
McMoRan Copper & Gold <FCX.N> lost 3.1 percent to $118.07, and
the S&P materials sector <.GSPM> fell 0.8 percent.
[].
"The fact the commodities market is trading down is what's
putting pressure on materials shares," said Tom Schrader,
managing director of U.S. equity trading at Stifel Nicolaus
Capital Markets in Baltimore.
Merck & Co <MRK.N> dropped 6.6 percent to $34.69,
accounting for more than half the losses in the Dow
industrials, after it stopped giving a blood clot preventer,
one of its most important experimental drugs, to some patients.
[].
The S&P healthcare index <.GSPA> fell 0.54 percent.
Weekly initial jobless claims jumped to their highest level
since October last week while food and energy costs lifted
producer prices in December, pointing to headwinds for an
economy that has shown fresh vigor. []
A surge in exports to their highest level in two years
helped narrow the U.S. trade deficit in November, an
encouraging sign for positive surprises in the current earnings
season.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> fell 23.54 points,
or 0.20 percent, to 11,731.90. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> dropped 2.20 points, or 0.17 percent, to 1,283.76. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <> dipped 2.04 points, or 0.07
percent, to 2,735.29.
The benchmark S&P 500 has gained 22.3 percent since the
start of September.
About 7.57 billion shares traded on the New York Stock
Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below last
year's estimated daily average of 8.47 billion.
Advancing stocks trailed declining ones on the NYSE by
1,363 to 1,622, while on the Nasdaq, more than 5 stocks fell
for every four that rose.
JPMorgan fell 0.6 percent to $44.45 ahead of its results,
expected before the market's open on Friday. Its shares have
risen 4.8 percent so far this year.
Earnings from S&P 500 companies are expected to rise 32
percent in the fourth quarter compared to a year ago.
Despite Intel's beat and the rise in its shares, S&P 500
futures <SPc1> were flat late Thursday. In the previous two
quarters when the technology bellwether beat Wall Street
estimates, the broad U.S. stocks benchmark ended the sessions
in the opposite direction as Intel shares.
Marathon Oil Corp <MRO.N> gained 6 percent to $42.98 after
it said it would spin off its refinery and pipeline operations
into a stand-alone company. [].
Easing recent worries about the credit crisis in Europe,
Spain and Italy followed Portugal with successful debt sales on
Thursday. The euro rose 1.7 percent against the U.S. dollar,
its best day in six months. [].
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; additional reporting by Chuck
Mikolajczak and Pedro Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Kenneth
Barry)
