$100 Oil Snuffs Out Stocks' Early Advance
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
NEW YORK, Feb. 19 -- Wall Street gave up a big early advance and closed down Tuesday after oil prices closed above $100 for the first time and stoked fears that inflation will stymie an already troubled economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 10.99, or 0.09 percent, to 12,337.22 after being up more than 150 points. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 1.21, or 0.09 percent, to 1348.78, and the Nasdaq composite fell 15.60, or 0.67, to 2306.20.
Soaring oil prices could bring more problems for consumers, who have already slowed spending in recent months. Spending has also been shaken by declining home prices and the volatile stock market.
The market was also concerned that rising inflation might make the Federal Reserve reconsider its bias toward lowering interest rates to help the economy. The central bank, which next meets March 18, last month slashed rates by 1.25 percentage points.
Investors were positioning themselves ahead of a half-dozen economic reports that could give the market further direction. Paramount among those will be Wednesday's Labor Department report on consumer prices for January, which is a closely watched gauge for inflation. The Fed will also release minutes from its last meeting.
Meanwhile, new concerns that banks are facing more financial problems dragged the sector sharply lower and reminded investors that the credit crisis appears far from resolved.
British bank Barclays Group revealed credit-related losses totaling $3.13 billion, up from a smaller write-down in November, while Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-largest bank, said it had suspended a number of traders in connection with the overvaluation of asset-backed securities by $2.85 billion.
The National Association of Home Builders said its index measuring home-builder confidence inched up in February.
Movers
Ambac fell 19 cents, to $10.03, after a Goldman Sachs analyst cut his price target for the insurer and said it will probably to need to raise about $3.5 billion to maintain its AAA rating.
MBIA slipped 41 cents, to $11.83.
Lehman Brothers fell $1.35, to $53.42.
