NEW YORK (AP) - Concerns over high stock prices and global politics continued to plague markets Monday as major stock indexes ended with slight losses in another day of choppy trading. Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, a major world financial center, added to the host of political concerns on investors' minds.
It could have been worse. The Dow Jones industrial average sank 178 points in the opening minutes, a sudden drop of 1 percent, but then it climbed back.
The Dow lost 41.93 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,071.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 5.05 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,977.80. The Nasdaq composite slipped 6.34 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,505.85.
The market has turned choppy in recent weeks, flipping between solid gains and steep losses. Since hitting a record on Sept. 18, the S&P 500 has slipped 1.7 percent. Coming after a calm summer, the slide has set off a flurry of worried calls to brokerages.
One reason for the recent turbulence is that the stock market appears "priced for perfection" - an increasingly common saying among investors, and it means the S&P 500 is so high that corporate profits and the economy have to keep improving just to sustain current prices. Good news isn't enough.
At current prices, investors are paying $16.69 for every dollar in company earnings.