- GE, Vivendi Agree to Value NBCU Stake at $5.8 Billion
- Tuesday's ISM in Focus as Bulls Call for Turn in Dollar
- Dubai Markets Open Sharply Lower for Second Day
- Dubai World to Restructure About $26 Billion of Debt
- Cramer: Dubai Can’t Sink These 6 Dividend Stocks
- White House to Crank Up Pressure on Mortgage Industry
- Treasury Threatens Banks, Not Borrowers
- Good Sign for the Economy: 'Greed' Makes a Comeback
- The World's Biggest Debtor Nations
- Treasury Threatens Banks, Not Borrowers
- We're Approaching a Market Bubble: Portfolio Manager
- Hershey Shares: What Options Are Saying
- Nov. 30: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Why Careful Shoppers Are Great for the Box Office
- Blue Nile CEO: 'We're Having the Best Cyber Monday Ever'
- Best Online Retailers to Buy Now: Internet Analyst
- ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue: A Financial Success
- Cyber Monday: The Last Vestige of Dotcom Hype
MOST SHARED
- Timeless and Time-Tested Warren Buffett Watch Predictions
- Dubai World Set to Restructure About $26 Billion of Total Debt
- Should Homeowners Be Able To Walk Away From Mortgage?
- Dubai Stocks Could Fall a Further 30%: Charts
- Good Sign for the Economy: 'Greed' Makes a Comeback
- Dubai Markets Open Sharply Lower for Second Day
- Blue Nile CEO: 'We're Having the Best Cyber Monday Ever'
- Goldman Sachs Party Ban: No Gatherings of 12 or More
- Bove: 26 Banks May Need To Raise More Capital
- Nov. 30: Unusual Volume Leaders
Text Size 
Stocks slipped Tuesday as investors parsed remarks from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and as the pending results for the government's bank stress test left the market a bit jittery.
The U.S. economy is on track for a recovery, Bernanke told a joint congressional economic committee, but it will be slow and unemployment will continue to rise as businesses remain cautious about hiring.
"We expect economic activity to bottom out, then to turn up later this year," Bernanke said in prepared remarks before the panel but cautioned that the recovery could be thwarted if the financial system deteriorates further.
In economic news, an ISM report showed the service sector contracted at a slower pace in April than in March.
“The services sector is beginning to show signs that the worst may be behind it," Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors wrote in a note to clients. "This report is likely to add to the growing belief that while the recession is lingering on, it may be getting a lot milder."
Meanwhile, the market is rife with speculation about the bank stress tests, due out Thursday. Reuters reported that ten of the 19 banks tested need fresh capital.
Bank stocks were mixed: Shares of both Citigroup [C
Loading...
()
] and Bank of America [BAC
Loading...
()
] gained, while JPMorgan [JPM
Loading...
()
] and Wells Fargo [WFC
Loading...
()
] declined.
UBS [UBS
Loading...
()
] shares fell after the Swiss bank confirmed a nearly $1.8 billion loss for the quarter and warned that it may need further writedowns in the quarters ahead.
Shares of AIG [AIG
Loading...
()
] shot up more than 10 percent on reports that the troubled insurer will report a first-quarter loss on Thursday but will not need additional capital.
Kraft Foods [KFT
Loading...
()
] led Dow gainers after the company, which makes Macaroni & Cheese, Oreo cookies and Maxwell House coffee, beat its earnings target by a nickel and backed its outlook, helped by cost-cutting measures.
CVS Caremark [CVS
Loading...
()
] narrowly beat expectations as drugstore sales rose more than 3 percent.
General Motors shares [GM
Loading...
()
] advanced following news that Germany may assist Italian automaker Fiat in the purchase of GM's German unit Opel.
Chrysler’s planned alliance with Fiat could be derailed by a group of investment funds seeking to block the deal.
This Week:
TUESDAY: Earnings from Disney, Electronic Arts and Pulte Homes after the bell
WEDNESDAY: Weekly mortgage applications; ADP employment report; Weekly crude inventories; Earnings from Cisco, News Corp., Prudential
THURSDAY: Chain-store sales; Stress-test results; BOE/ECB announcements; Weekly jobless claims; Fed's Bernanke speaks; Consumer credit; Earnings from Unilever, CBS, Nvidia
FRIDAY: Jobs report; wholesale trade; Earnings from Toyota, Berkshire Hathaway
Send comments to .
Print
Email
- Ever wished your cab driver would stop chatting and just get to where you're going? Well, that moment is closer than ever.
- UPS is giving its customers the option to offset its carbon emissions when sending a package.
- Romania's presidential campaign has been rocked by a video that may show the president striking a 10-year-old boy.
- Raising alligators is hard work, and the fickle taste of rich consumers has just made it much harder, says the NY Times.
- A recent issue of ESPN Magazine was one of its top sellers ever, and it only took scantily clad athletes to make it happen.
- The continued real estate boom in China is partially fueled by a generational flood of newlyweds.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes