U.S. stocks declined on Thursday, pulling the S&P 500 back below 2,000, as concerns about Ukraine overtook upbeat reports on the U.S. economy and the labor market.
"The recent U.S. data is positive, but we're grinding against the world; it's hard to decouple for too long," said Paul Karos, a senior portfolio manager at Whitebox Mutual Funds. "We only need Ukraine and Russia to flare up to trigger a reason to sell," said Nick Raich, CEO at the Earnings Scout.
The improved economic reads on second-quarter growth "are not a surprise, given we had better second-quarter earnings. But what is important is that of the relatively small number of companies that have reported in the last three weeks is there is a weakening trend in earnings revisions for the third quarter," Raich added.
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