Stocks dip on news of consumer confidence drop

Stocks reversed early gains today and moved lower after a private research group said consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in June. Investors had been expecting the Conference Board's measure of consumer sentiment to hold steady following big jumps in April and May. Consumer confidence is closely watched because spending from consumers accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index now stands at 49.3, down from 54.8 in May. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected confidence would be virtually unchanged at 55. After months of economic data showing that the recession was not getting worse, investors are hungry for signs that the economy is actually growing. Investors have grown weary and nervous that the economy's rebound won't be as robust as hoped. Those concerns have stalled a three-month advance in the market that brought stocks up more than 30 percent off of 12-year lows reached in early March. The market still had a stellar quarter, with the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index rising 16.2 percent over the April-June period as of Monday's close. That would mark its best quarterly performance since a nearly 21 percent jump in the fourth quarter of 1998. In morning trading, the Dow Jones industrials are down 71.04, or 0.8 percent, to 8,458.34 after earlier rising as much as 31 points. The S&P 500 index fell 9.06, or 1.0 percent, to 918.17, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 11.64, or 0.6 percent, to 1,832.42.