Stocks slide as credit worries outweigh good retail news

NEW YORK -- Stocks gave up a modest advance Monday to trade lower as concerns about a weakening credit market unraveled some enthusiasm over reports of strong electronics sales over the holiday weekend.

The New York Federal Reserve, acknowledging "heightened pressures" in money markets that are expected to last the rest of the year, said it plans to conduct a series of term repurchase agreements aimed at boosting liquidity in the credit markets. The New York Fed, which carries out monetary policy set by the U.S. Federal Reserve, said it would inject $8 billion to the banking system on Wednesday.

A better-than-expected report on retail sales wasn't able to hold the market's gains. Retail sales on Friday and Saturday combined rose 7.2% to $16.4 billion from the same two-day period a year ago, according to ShopperTrak, which tracks total sales at more than 50,000 U.S. retail outlets. That's helped ease investor concerns about consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of all economic activity.

"It seems that the market is doing what it knows best in times of uncertainty and that is fluctuating, said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at New York-based brokerage house Avalon Partners. "I suspect that this is going to be the trend that we're going to see over the next week or so as we await economic data."

Last week, the Dow lost 1.5%, the S&P slid 1.2% and the Nasdaq gave up 1.5%.

With energy prices at the highest in decades, and economic uncertainty looming over the market, investors have been nervous that consumers could cut back during the holidays.

Energy prices fluctuated in early trading. A barrel of light, sweet crude fell 90 cents to $97.28 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after briefly crossing $99 overnight.