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Stocks and Bonds

Awaiting Jobs Data, Market Falls

Stocks fell on Monday as investors braced for a week of unemployment figures and economic data unlikely to stoke confidence in the prospects for growth.

On Monday the Commerce Department said personal income rose 0.2 percent and consumer spending was up 0.4 percent in July, which was higher than estimates. The core Consumer Price Index rose 0.1 percent, in line with analysts’ expectations. Incomes were flat in June.

“The number this morning was not all that bad,” said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at the ConvergEx Group. “What the market is generally worried about for the entire week is how much softening we are going to see in the days and weeks ahead.”

The personal income and spending data were the first in a series of reports this week that will include auto sales for July and the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index. And on Friday, the government will release its unemployment report for August, one of the most widely anticipated monthly reports.

Housing, jobs and consumer spending have been watched closely by economists trying to determine the state of the economic recovery in the United States.

The Commerce Department’s report on personal incomes and spending growth suggested that consumers were cautiously loosening their belts.

“There exists pent-up demand for large-ticket items such as automobiles,” Chris G. Christopher Jr., senior principal economist for IHS Global Insight, wrote in a research note.

“This is relatively good news,” he added, “given the steady stream of negative reports last week of plunging home sales, stock market volatility and employment conditions.”

Investors found little incentive to buy ahead of Friday’s monthly jobs report. Analysts expect the report to show that the economy lost an additional 100,000 jobs in August and that the unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent, from 9.5 percent in July.

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Credit...The New York Times

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 140.92 points, or 1.39 percent, to close at 10,009.73, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index dropped 15.67 points, or 1.47 percent, to 1,048.92. The Nasdaq composite index fell 33.66 points, or 1.56 percent, to 2,119.97. Volume remained light, which can increase market volatility.

Interest rates were lower.

The Treasury’s benchmark 10-year note rose 1 1/32, to 100 27/32, and the yield fell to 2.53 percent from 2.64 percent late Friday.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard, the computer company, rose 56 cents, or 1.47 percent, to close at $38.56 after the company said Monday that its board had approved another $10 billion for share repurchases. Intel stock fell 41 cents, or 2.23 percent, to $17.96, after the company announced that it had agreed to buy the wireless unit of Infineon Technologies for $1.4 billion.

Financial stocks weighed on the broader market, with Citigroup declining 9 cents, to $3.67, and Bank of America falling 32 cents, to $12.32.

The biotechnology company Genzyme rose $2.29, or 3.39 percent, to close at $69.91 after it rejected a buyout offer of $18.5 billion, or $69 a share, from the French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis, saying the bid undervalued the company. Sanofi shares rose 0.24 percent.

“The market is bracing for a week of bad data,” said Nick Kalivas, vice president of financial research at MF Global Research. “It is not going to be consistent with much strength.”

“People are reluctant to bet against it at this stage in the game,” he said. “It is weighing on the market.”

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve is to release the minutes of its most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Analysts will pore over the minutes seeking insight about recent policy decisions, including the one this month that the Fed will use proceeds from its holdings of mortgage bonds to buy long-term Treasury securities in an effort to prop up the recovery.

Sales reports from chain stores and automakers are also expected to be lackluster.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 9 of the New York edition with the headline: Awaiting Jobs Data, Market Falls. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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