Stocks fall on debt limit worries

[September 28, 2013]  (AP) -- Stocks fell on Friday as investors focused on the risk that the U.S. government won't be able to pay all its bills after hitting its borrowing limit next week.

Also on Friday, a government report showed that incomes and consumer spending grew slightly last month. The increases suggest anemic growth that is not strong enough to accelerate the economic recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 106 points, or 0.7 percent, to 15,223 about 45 minutes after the market opened Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 11 points to 1,688. The Nasdaq composite fell 21 points to 3,767.

Unless stock prices turn around, Friday would be the sixth trading day of the past seven with declines for the S&P 500 and Dow.

Stocks have suffered while spending bills pingpong between the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

The Democratic-led Senate was expected to approve a bill on Friday that would keep government agencies from shutting down when the debt ceiling is reached on Tuesday. Republican leaders in the House have already said the Senate bill to be insufficient, meaning the fight is likely to spill into the weekend.

All 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 index fell. Technology stocks had the biggest declines.

J.C. Penney Co. said it expects to raise about $811 million through a stock offering. Its stock slid $1.09, or 10.5 percent, to $9.35 as investors anticipated that their stake in the company would shrink after the company's pool of shares grows.

Nike shares jumped $4.44, or 6 percent, to $74.77 after the shoe and apparel company reported a quarterly profit that was higher than financial analysts expected.

United Continental Holdings Inc. slid because its projected third-quarter revenue is coming in below Wall Street's expectations. The airline's stock fell $2.50, or 7.3 percent, to $31.56.

Stocks declined in Europe, too, as Britain's FTSE slipped 1 percent and the German DAX and France's CAC-40 both eased 0.3 percent.

Stocks in China and South Korea rose slightly, while Japan's Nikkei fell 0.3 percent.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.62 percent, from 2.64 percent on Thursday.

[Associated Press; By JOSHUA FREED]

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