Wall Street slides after 5-week winning streak

NEW YORK, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks retreated on Monday after five straight weeks' gains, as investors temporarily took a break from activities after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 14,000 Friday, not seen since October 2007.

All of the 10 sectors of the Standard & Poor's 500-stock Index ended lower as the market notched the biggest drop since the start of the year.

Wall Street opened on a cautious note as many traders believed that the equity market was overbought after a continuing rise in the previous month.

The market was also weighed on by weak European stocks Monday. Borrowing costs for Italy and Spain increased in the day, showing concerns among bond investors that both countries may be unable to meet their financial obligations.

Investors were also closely watching the European Central Bank' s interest rate announcement late this week.

The main stock indices dropped steadily despite an increased factory orders reading. The U.S. Commerce Department said Monday that the country's factory orders rose 1.8 percent in December from the prior month, even though companies trimmed orders for the goods that signaled investment plans.

Shares of McGraw-Hill, owner of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, dropped 13.78 percent to 50.3 U.S. dollars as the parent company confirmed that U.S. Department of Justice is planning a CDO-ratings (Collateralized Debt Obligation-ratings) civil suit against the subsidiary company. Moody's Corp. shares also fell 10. 66 percent to 49.45 dollars.

Shares of healthcare company Humana leapt 4.66 percent to 78.86 dollars, after its earnings results released Monday beat analysts' forecasts.

Gannett shares tumbled 6.70 percent to 18.51 dollars though the newspaper chain posted a gain in quarterly revenue Monday.

Shares of Acme Packet, a communication equipment provider, surged 23.65 percent to 29.59 dollars after the networking company was acquired by Oracle for 29.25 dollars per share.

The Dow sank 129.71 points, or 0.93 percent, to 13,880.08. The S&P 500 plunged 17.46 points, or 1.15 percent, to 1,495.71. The Nasdaq Composite index slid 47.93 points, or 1.51 percent, to 3, 131.17.

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