Stocks opened lower and stayed there through the close as investors worried about the potential disruption from a major port strike and increasing tensions in the Middle East. The latest round of economic data weighed on sentiment too.
The vote to strike by roughly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen Association, a maritime workers' union, "is driving uncertainty concerning the availability of goods and their prices in the near term," says José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers.
