Stocks Drop as Election Nears as Dollar Rises, Oil Falls

U.S. stocks slipped, trimming a weekly gain, after growing payrolls failed to extend yesterday’s rally as Americans prepared to pick a president and assessed damage from Hurricane Sandy. Treasuries pared early losses while the dollar extended gains against the euro.

The S&P 500 lost 0.9 percent to 1,414.19 at 4 p.m. in New York after surging 1.1 percent yesterday. Ten-year Treasury yields fell less than one basis point to 1.72 percent after climbing five points earlier. The dollar rose against all but three of its 16 major peers, climbing 0.9 percent to an almost one-month high of $1.2832 per euro. Oil lost 2.6 percent to $84.86 a barrel after Sandy shut down East Coast refineries.