US STOCKS-Wall St ends worst week in six with another down day

                                

                                
 * Consumer sentiment ticks up in August
                                
 * Retail sales up in July but outlooks disappoint
                                
 * Education stocks weigh on Nasdaq, led by Apollo
                                
 * Dow down 0.2 pct, S&P off 0.4 pct, Nasdaq off 0.8 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US]
 (Updates to close, changes byline)
                                
 By Ryan Vlastelica
                                
 NEW YORK, Aug 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed out their
worst week in six with a whimper on Friday, slumping toward
the close as economic data gave little reason to reverse a
string of sell-offs.
                                
 In a thinly traded session, indexes posted their fourth
day of losses though selling pressure was limited in the Dow
by strength in Bank of America Corp <BAC.N>.
                                
 U.S. retail sales rebounded last month, as did the overall
July Consumer Price Index, but the data was consistent with an
economy that has slowed in recent months.
                                
 Positive corporate earnings and improved technicals helped
the market rally through July and early August, but sentiment
soured this week and stocks turned negative for the year after
a darker assessment of the economy by the Federal Reserve and
renewed concerns about China's economic growth rate.
                                
 For the week, the Dow fell 3.3 percent, while the S&P slid
3.8 percent and the Nasdaq lost 5 percent.
                                
 "We've seen a succession of bad news this week that was
punctuated by the Fed's comments, so while we have some
semblance of self-sufficiency, it's clear we'll be in a
slow-growth period for a long time," said Steven Baffico,
senior managing director at Claymore Securities in Lisle,
Illinois.
                                
 The S&P 500 relinquished its hold on the 200-day moving
average that had generated some positive momentum and was
trading below its 50-day moving average on Friday.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 16.80
points, or 0.16 percent, to 10,303.15. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> dropped 4.36 points, or 0.40 percent, to
1,079.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> dropped 16.79
points, or 0.77 percent, to 2,173.48.
                                
 Consumer sentiment stabilized this month after a sharp
drop in July, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan
Surveys' preliminary August reading showed. Meanwhile, the
Commerce Department said business inventories rose slightly
more than expected in June. For details, see [ID:nN13180040]
                                
 Alan Gayle, the senior investment strategist at the
Richmond, Virginia-based RidgeWorth Investment, said that even
though sentiment was better than expected in the month, it was
coming off of a low level, which "suggests that consumers
remain very uncertain in this environment."
                                
 Bank of America was the Dow's top percentage gainer,
rising 1.3 percent to $13.23.
                                
 The S&P Consumer Discretionary index <.GSPD> fell 1.1
percent after the data and disappointing outlooks from both
Nordstrom Inc <JWN.N> and J.C. Penney Co Inc <JCP.N>.
Nordstrom tumbled 7.2 percent to $31.05 and Penney lost 4.7
percent to $19.82. [ID:nN12261485] and [ID:nN13230095]
                                
 The S&P Retail index <.RLX> slid 1.4 percent while the S&P
Department store sub-industry index <.GSPRETD> slumped 3.2
percent.
                                
 Retailers will remain in focus next week, as a number of
sector bellwethers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N>, Gap
Inc <GPS.N> and Target Corp <TGT.N> are scheduled to report
their quarterly results.
                                
 Apollo Group Inc <APOL.O> was the top percentage loser in
the Nasdaq 100 <.NDX>, falling 3.8 percent to $38.94 alongside
other education companies. The sector was hit as brokerages
cut price targets on the stocks and the government said it
would hire more investigators to prevent fraud by for-profit
colleges. [ID:nN13204858]
                                
 Eli Lilly and Co <LLY.N> fell 2.5 percent to $35.70 after
the drugmaker lost a patent case that cleared the way for
generic competition for Strattera, its attention deficit
disorder drug. [ID:nN12148299]
                                
 On the upside, shares of both Nvidia Corp <NVDA.O> and
Rambus Inc <RMBS.O> rallied after Rambus granted patent
licenses to Nvidia, raising hopes for an end to a lengthy
legal battle. [ID:nN13180375]
                                
 Nvidia shot up 4.8 percent to $9.39 while Rambus gained
3.8 percent to $18.71.
                                
 Volume was extremely light, with only 5.98 billion shares
traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock
Exchange and Nasdaq, well below last year's estimated daily
average of 9.65 billion.
                                
 Decliners slightly outnumbered advancers on the New York
Stock Exchange by a ratio of about 8-to-7, while on the
Nasdaq, about nine stocks fell for every four that rose.
 (Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Jan Paschal)