![]()
- FDIC's Bair Cautions on Risks in Bank Break-Up Plan
- Wednesday's Economic News Crunch Could Tilt Markets
- Call Me Crazy: Confessions of a Black Friday Shopper
- US Firms Hit by Payroll Taxes at Exactly the Wrong Time
- Citi Mortgage Reveals Something the US Treasury Won't
- Fed Sanguine About US Recovery, Worried on Jobs
- Amended Berkshire Filing Reveals No 'Secret' Holdings
- Holiday Guide to This Season's Smartphones
- In Time for Holidays: More Gloom and Doom on Economy
- Citi Mortgage Reveals What Treasury Won't
- S&P to Hit 1,200 by Year-End: Chief Investor
- Amended Berkshire Hathaway Filing Indicates No Secret Stock Stakes at End of Q3
- Facebook's Biggest-Ever Holiday Shopping Season
- Facebook's New Dual Class Structure - Slow Steps to an IPO
- 5 Big Bank Stocks Investors Should Consider: Strategists
- Gambling Drunk, Texting to Live And America's On Sale - Your Emails
- Nov. 24: Unusual Volume Leaders
- NBA D-League On The Rise
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Wednesday's Economic News Crunch Could Tilt Markets
- NBA D-League On The Rise
- Obama Reiterates Commitment to Boost US-India Ties
- Japan Export Rebound Eases Fear of New Recession
- Australia Wheat Exporters Face Challenges: GrainCorp
- Trading Block
- Confessions of a Black Friday Shopper
- Stifling Anger at Work Can Kill, Survey Finds
- Oil Slips Below $76 On Revised US GDP Data
Stocks turned lower Thursday as bank stocks backed off their early rally and techs dragged on the Nasdaq.
"The techs are under a little bit of pressure," Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets, told Reuters. "There is a lot of rotation going on and what's really driving the market," he said.
Bank of America, [BAC
Loading...
()
] Wells Fargo [WFC
Loading...
()
] and Citigroup [C
Loading...
()
] turned mixed, after gaining more than 15 percent in the previous session.
Bernanke said increasing the effectiveness of bank supervision is a "top priority" for the Fed. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner sought to ease fears about the results by saying that none of the banks being tested face the risk of insolvency.
>> Roubini: Stress Tests Aren't Enough
CNBC-parent General Electric [GE
Loading...
()
] gained after CEO Jeff Immelt said the conglomerate's struggling finance arm is doing better than expected. Barclays raised the price target on GE to $15 from $10 and raised its rating to "overweight."
General Motors [GM
Loading...
()
] shares rose sharply after the troubled automaker reported a net loss of $9.78 a share but beat analysts' target. GM burned through $10 billion of cash in the previous quarter.
In economic news, initial jobless claims fell more than expected, to their lowest level since January. Continuing claims, however, hit another record.
This came after a pair of reports Wednesday — from ADP and Challenger, Gray & Christmas — showed the pace of layoffs is beginning to slow.
The Labor Department's April jobs number is due out on Friday. Economists expect it to show that 600,000 jobs were shaved from nonfarm payrolls and that the unemployment rate jumped to 8.9 percent from March's 8.5 percent, according to Reuters.
Technology stocks were lower, pushing the Nasdaq into negative territory, as investors backed off the sector which has been leading the current rally.0
SiriusXM [SIRI
Loading...
()
] was the biggest percent decliner on the Nasdaq 100 after the satellite-radio company posted a quarterly loss but raised its outlook.
Chips and telecoms were also among the big drags on Nasdaq. Applied Materials [AMAT
Loading...
()
], KLA Tencor [KLAC
Loading...
()
] and Xilinx [XLNX
Loading...
()
] were all down more than 4 percent.
AT&T [T
Loading...
()
] and Verizon [VZ
Loading...
()
] fell about 4 percent each after JPMorgan cut its rating on the stocks to "neutral" from "overweight."
April same-store sales came in better than expected, as warm weather and glimmers of hope for the economy put investors more in the mood to spend.
Wal-Mart [WMT
Loading...
()
] reported its same-store sales rose 5 percent, surpassing the 2.9 percent expected, but cautioned that the second quarter will be challenging compared with a year ago, when government stimulus checks were handed out.
Gap [GPS
Loading...
()
] sales dropped 4 percent but that was nearly half the 7.8 percent decline expected. And Children's Place [PLCE
Loading...
()
] hopped to a 5-percent gain when analysts had expected sales to be flat.
Shares of AIG [AIG
Loading...
()
] shot up more than 10 percent ahead of earnings from the insurer, due out after the closing bell. AIG is expected to post a 5 cent per-share loss.
Still to Come:
THURSDAY: Stress-test results; Google shareholders meeting; Consumer credit; Earnings from AIG, CBS, Nvidia after the bell
FRIDAY: Jobs report; wholesale trade; Earnings from Toyota, Berkshire Hathaway
Send comments to .
- Remember when auto shows were major events where new models could generate buzz?
- CNBC’s Mike Huckman visits a cutting-edge plant to see how the flu vaccine of the future is being made.
- People who bottle up their anger at work are up to five times more likely to suffer a heart attack, a study found.
- Playboy will outsource its publishing operations in a bid to become profitable again.
- A new McDonald's in Manhattan is the nation's first to sport a sleek, chic interior imported from stores in London and Paris.
- For nearly three decades, these on-call experts have been dishing advice on how to – and not to – cook turkey.












