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| - Wall Street stocks mostly fell early Thursday as a rally that has lifted major indices to new records finally showed signs of fatigue. About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average remained modestly positive at 29,135.89, up 0.1 percent. But the broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.7 percent to 3,555.61, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 1.9 percent to 11,822.26, both retreating from record levels set Wednesday, that put the Nasdaq above 12,000 points for the first time. The rally was based on hopes for a strong economic recovery following coronavirus and optimism about vaccines and therapeutics for the virus. Economic data released Thursday showed a bigger-than-expected drop in new jobless claims and an unexpectedly big trade deficit for July. But Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said the pullback in equities was not the result of fears for the economy, but mostly due to an inevitable reconsideration about excessive valuations following the surge in recent weeks. "Let's not kid ourselves with the idea that worries about COVID, the election, diplomatic tension with China, or the fiscal cliff are the basis for this morning's weakness," O'Hare wrote in a morning note. "The basis for this morning's weakness is the realization that things are getting carried away in terms of trend exuberance and that some profit taking is in order." jmb/hs
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