LIVE MARKETS-Stocks end modestly lower ahead of payrolls

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STOCKS END MODESTLY LOWER AHEAD OF PAYROLLS

U.S. stocks closed out Monday's trading with modest declines in a subdued session before key economic data on Tuesday, including the November jobs report and October reading of retail sales.

While the Dow Industrials .DJI finished near the unchanged mark, the Nasdaq dropped 0.6%, weighed down by a drop in Broadcom AVGO.O which fell for a third straight session as jitters around AI-related names persist.

Still, Wedbush director of equity research Seth Basham said in a note that the firm remains "sanguine about the outlook for the U.S. stock market," as most fundamental drivers and trading signals remain positive, including strong earnings growth, limited job market weakness, improving services inflation, favorable fiscal and regulatory policies, as well as an accommodative monetary policy.

On the sector front, healthcare .SPXHC led gains with a rise of 1.3%, while tech .SPLRCT, down 1%, was the weakest.

Declining issues were virtually even with advancers on the NYSE, while on the Nasdaq, declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.76-to-1 ratio.

Below is your closing market snapshot:

(Chuck Mikolajczak)

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