Reuters Dow, S and P dip on Chrysler bankruptcy, MetLife off late

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 fell on Thursday after Chrysler's bankruptcy filing undercut optimism about upbeat corporate profits and reassuring job market data.

Even so, the S&P 500 closed out its best month in nine years despite the big U.S. automaker's bankruptcy after talks to restructure its debt broke down.

Uneasiness about Chrysler's bankruptcy wiped out earlier gains of more than 1 percent in both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500.

"We've got some fairly heavy-handed government intervention here, and the market is concerned about that," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.

Exxon Mobil Corp was the top drag on the Dow, down 2.6 percent at $66.67, after the world's largest publicly traded company posted a 58 percent drop in quarterly profit that missed Wall Street's estimates.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 17.61 points, or 0.22 percent, to 8,168.12. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped just 0.83 of a point, or 0.09 percent, to 872.81.

But the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 5.36 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,717.30.

FINANCIALS RANK AS TOP SECTOR IN APRIL

For the month of April, the Dow rose 7.4 percent, the S&P 500 gained 9.4 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 12.4 percent.

The gains for the broad S&P were the largest since March 2000, while the Nasdaq scored its biggest percentage rise since October 2002.

The best-performing sectors in the S&P 500 for the month were financials, up 22 percent, and consumer discretionary stocks, up 18.5 percent. more...