CLOSING BELL

Dow 10856.63  -50.79, Nasdaq 2397.96  -12.73, S&P 1169.43  -3.84 

Stocks fell on disappointment over a discouraging ADP employment report and a worse-than-expected Chicago PMI reading today.

The latest ADP Employment Report showed that -23,000 private payrolls were shed in March economist had expected an addition of +40,000 jobs.  The report had made traders concerned about the official nonfarm payrolls report which economist expect to show an increase of +185,000 to payrolls.  The government's official report is due Friday.

The Chicago PMI for March came in at 58.8, but economists were looking for a reading of 61.0 after a reading of 62.6 in February. This made traders a little nervous about the state of the recovery.

On a positive note, factory orders for February increased +0.6%, which was slightly more than the expected +0.5% increase, while orders for January were revised higher to a + 2.5% increase.

News that the Obama administration proposed allowing offshore oil and natural gas exploration in part of the Gulf of Mexico gave a boost to drillers +2.6%, which allowed the energy sector to gain +0.4%.

Advancing Sectors: Energy +0.4%, Financials +0.2%

Declining Sectors: Consumer Discretionary -0.8%, Tech -0.6%, Industrials -0.6%, Consumer Staples -0.5%, Materials -0.5%, Telecom -0.5%, Utilities -0.3%, Health Care -0.3%