Stocks Wilt as a Difficult Week Ends
Stocks fell as investors weighed the budget standoff against upbeat signs from companies and consumers.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 70.06 points Friday, or 0.5%, to 15258.24. The Dow average logged its first weekly loss since the week ended Aug. 30, declining 1.25%, and it has fallen in six of the past seven trading days. For the year to date, the 30-stock gauge is up more than 16%.</br></br>The prospect of a partial government shutdown next week as Congress and the White House wrangle over the budget helped keep buyers at bay, overshadowing encouraging economic data and corporate reports, including strong results from Nike, a new addition to the Dow average.</br></br>"The market is very narrowly focused on what's going on in Washington," said Paul Zemsky, chief investment officer of multiasset strategies at ING U.S. Investment Management.</br></br>Mr. Zemsky said what is worrisome isn't so much that the government might shut down in the coming week, but the apparent political dysfunction shows how difficult it will be to raise the debt ceiling in a couple of weeks. While he isn't selling stocks in anticipation, he won't be adding to positions until the debt ceiling is raised.