No Santa Claus rally as stox dip again
Trade has also been light due to the holiday season
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 1.53%, or 128 points, to close at 8,303 -- the market's fourth straight day of losses.
Media shares fared worse, lagging the broader market: AOL Time Warner dropped 4.09% to $12.44; Viacom fell 3.35% to $40.39; Walt Disney lost 3.32% to close at $16.02; Vivendi Universal eased 3.11% to $15.57; and News Corp. was off 2.95% to $25.88.
Investors can only hope the traditional uptick will be revived next week. But they've been spooked by weak retail sales this Christmas, hovering war clouds and high oil prices -- all factors that can disrupt the economy and squeeze advertising spending, the lifeblood of media companies.
A dour report by Wal-Mart this week exacerbated economic worries. The nation's largest retailer lowered its holiday sales forecast.
Markets were further unsettled by a report that North Korea plans to expel U.N. monitors at its nuclear facilities, raising the specter of conflict on two fronts.
Trade has been light, with many market players taking off until after New Year's: Trading volume Friday was 751 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Usually, more than a billion shares change hands each day.
