US STOCKS-Wall St falls; 52-week lows outnumber highs

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK, Sept 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, dropping in a broad decline that saw the number of companies hitting 52-week lows outnumber the companies hitting highs for the first time since early August.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 36 companies hit 52-week lows, including such names as Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU - news) and Herbalife Ltd (NYSE: HLF - news) . Only 24 NYSE names hit 52-week highs, marking the first time lows outnumbered highs since Aug. 8. Lows also outpaced highs on the Nasdaq, seven to five.

The weakness was largely concentrated in small-cap names. The broad S&P 500 index posted 11 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows.

The statistic is a cautious signal for market breadth, along with the S&P 500 holding under its 14-day moving average, a key technical level it is on track to close below for the third straight session.

Wall Street's weakness came as weak jobless claims data pushed investors to continue taking profits in a market that had rallied to repeated records.

Still, many analysts view the longer-term uptrend as intact. In addition to holding near record levels, the S&P hasn't suffered a prolonged pullback in months, with investors using pronounced market drops as buying opportunities.

"Fundamentally, we're at all-time highs for profits and dividends and global trade, so the market should continue its longer-term trend higher," said Tim Courtney, chief investment officer of Exencial Wealth Advisors in Oklahoma City.

"The one thing the market is concerned about is when interest rates are going to rise, but with the weak jobs data, the Fed has cover to push that back until next year."

The Dow Jones industrial average was falling 64.66 points, or 0.38 percent, to 17,004.05, the S&P 500 was losing 5.46 points, or 0.27 percent, to 1,990.23 and the Nasdaq Composite was dropping 16.80 points, or 0.37 percent, to 4,569.72.

The largest percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange was Taminco Corp, rising 11.66 percent, while the largest percentage decliner was Brady Corp (NYSE: BRC - news) , down 10.42 percent.

Among the most active stocks on the NYSE were Bank of America, up 1.47 percent to $16.60; AK Steel Holding , up 2.97 percent to $9.35 and Sprint Corp, up 4.55 percent to $6.43.

On the Nasdaq, Apple Inc (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) , down 1.1 percent to $99.88, JDS Uniphase, up 11.4 percent to $13.48, and Lululemon Athletica (NasdaqGS: LULU - news) , up 17.0 percent to $44.93, were among the most actively traded.

Declining issues were outnumbering advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,718 to 1,188, for a 1.45-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,533 issues were falling and 1,014 advancing for a 1.51-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)