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"The general feeling is that Syrian tensions have eased a bit," said Alec Young, global equity strategist with S&P Capital IQ. The price of crude oil fell $1.30, or 1.2 percent, to $108.80 a barrel. Oil had climbed as high as $112 earlier this week. Energy-related stocks fell. Exxon Mobil slipped 2 percent and Chevron fell 1 percent. Investors worry that a limited strike could drag the U.S. and its allies into that nation's civil war, or worse, set off a regional conflict in an area where so much of the world's oil is located. Beyond the news about Syria, it has been a mostly quiet week for stocks. Traders are winding down during the last week of summer and heading out for the Labor Day holiday this weekend. Trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange thin: 2.5 billion shares compared with a recent average of 3.4 billion shares. Wilbanks said he doesn't expect the market to move substantially higher, citing the mediocre second-quarter earnings that U.S. companies just finished reporting. "We're going to need to see robust corporate profit growth to move the market higher," he said. In other corporate news, teen clothing store operator Guess jumped $3.51, or 13 percent, to $30.82 after the company reported second-quarter profit and revenue late Wednesday that blew past the expectations of Wall Street analysts. The retailer also raised its profit forecast for the year. Campbell Soup fell $1.38, or 3 percent, to $43.33 after posting a loss for its fiscal fourth quarter. The company's results were dragged down by a charge related to the potential sale of a European business. While the results topped Wall Street's estimates, revenue missed expectations.
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