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NEW YORK — A dis- mal report on consumer confidence tripped up stocks Tuesday, sending the market to a second straight loss. The Dow Jones Indus- trial Average fell 100.97 points, or 1 percent, to 10,282.41. Over the last two days, the index has fallen 1.2 percent. The Nasdaq Compos- ite Index fell 1.3 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index lost 1.2 percent. All its sectors traded lower. Financials, technology, industrials, energy, health care, and materials declined more than 1 percent. The Conference Board, a private research group, said its confidence index plunged more than 10 points this month to 46.0, far below the 55.5 reading expected by economists surveyed by Market- Watch. Any hint of weakness in consumer spending, which represents more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy, is particu- larly troublesome to investors at a time when a recovery is just taking shape. However, earnings released by several bell- wether retailers were strong, giving some traders and analysts hope that weak sentiment might not be translating into actual behavior at cash registers. "People are treading very cautiously here," following last week's four-day winning streak in the Dow, said Anthony Conroy, head trader at BNY ConvergEx, a New York brokerage. "People are wondering whether the market got a little ahead of itself. I think we could test the 10,000 level on the Dow one more time, but hopefully it will be off to the races from there." R e c o v e r y - s e n s i t iv e industrial and commodi- ty-producing stocks including Alcoa Inc., down 2.7 percent, Cater- pillar Inc., down 2.4 per- cent, and Boeing Co., down 1.9 percent, led the decline on the Dow indus- trials average. Blue-chip financials were also weak, with shares in American Express and J.P. Morgan Chase Co. off more than 2 percent each. Shares of Home Depot Inc. and Macy's Inc. rose more than 1 percent, respectively, after the retailers reporting better- than-expected earnings, though Sears Holdings fell 1.9 percent after it also beat views. Nordstrom's said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit more than dou- bled, but it nevertheless missed expectations. Its shares edged up 0.2 per- cent. Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust, said the earnings reports cast the Conference Board data in a less worrisome context. "If you look at the actual evidence of what consumers are doing, they're acting better than the confidence survey indicates," McDonald said. "The profit reports tell you there is some spending going on." Ahead of the opening bell, the S&P Case- Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index posted a 2.5 percent decrease in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, a significant easing from the larger declines in the rest of 2009. Adjusted for sea- sonal factors, the index rose 1.6 percent. Among other stocks on the move, Intel Corp. shares fell 2.3 percent after the chip-maker said it was hit by a cyber attack in January. Microsoft Corp. shares slid 1.4 percent after the technology conglomerate reached a patent licensing agreement with Ama- zon.com that gives the online retailer rights to use open-source software in its Kindle electronic book reader for an undis- closed sum. Book seller Barnes & Noble shares fell 6 per- cent after same-store sales declined more than fore- cast during the quarter. Brocade Communica- tions Systems shares stumbled 23 percent in recent trades as the net- work equipment maker offered up weaker-than- forecast revenue guid- ance. In other markets, the dollar strengthened against the euro, but weakened against the yen. Gold and oil prices fell, pushing the broad Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index down 1.6 percent. 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