Stocks ended mostly lower as investors paused after a recent win streak lifted the indexes to multiyear highs. Empire state index declined to negative 10.4 this month from negative 5.85 in August, while economists expected the index to improve to 0.0. Also, at a meeting in Cyprus Friday, EU finance ministers were reportedly unable to come to terms on a timeline for a more unified banking sector and disagreed over terms of rescue requests and the role of the ECB. On the upside, Apple gained 1.23%, giving support to the tech sector, after the co.said pre-orders of its iPhone 5 cleared 2 million units in a day, more than doubling the sales record that came with the prior model. Also, Netflix lost 5.78% after Macquarie initiated coverage of the streaming-video provider with an underperform rating. Zynga slid 3.14% to after it filed a counter-suit against Electronic Arts, accusing the rival videogame publisher of an “unlawful scheme” in attempting to prevent Zynga from hiring away EA employees. In the evening trade AMD said Chief Financial Officer Thomas Seifert resigned from his position, shares slid 5.7%. Apple rose 0.20%, building on their all-time high following the company’s update about its latest iPhone. Implied volatility inched lower on huge trading volumes.
