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Source: http://finance.yahoo.com

Stocks were able to overcome a weak start, but their advance ran into resistance and rolled over late in the session. However, the slide was stopped short as support was secured at the lows set last week.

Premarket selling pressure made for a lower start to the session as participants showed a moderately negative reaction to steep losses in Asia, where China's regulators followed through with plans to raise reserve requirements at select banks and Japan's sovereign debt was put on a negative outlook from Standard & Poor's. A subsequent flight to quality boosted the buck, which didn't help the early tone of trade either.

Stocks gave up a healthy advance and closed slightly lower Tuesday as investors suffered another bout of anxiety over President Barack Obama's plan to regulate banks.

The Dow Jones industrial average, up 90 points in the early afternoon, closed with a loss of 2.57. The other major indexes were also down modestly.

Uneasiness about Obama's plan to limit the size and trading operations of big banks pulled financial stocks and then the entire market lower. News reports that Paul Volcker, the head of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, would testify about the plan before Congress next week, contributed to the market's turnaround.

The NYSE DOW closed LOWER -2.57 points -0.03% on Tuesday January 26

Sym. Last......... ........Change.......... 

Dow 10,194.29 -2.57 -0.03% 

Nasdaq 2,203.73 -7.07 -0.32% 

S&P 500 1,092.17 -4.61 -0.42% 

30-yr Bond 4.5660% +0.1300 

 

NYSE Volume 5,469,008,500  (prior day 5,164,770,000)

Nasdaq Volume 2,406,852,250 (prior day 2,186,417,000)

Europe

Symbol.... Last...... .....Change.......

FTSE 100 5,276.85 +16.54 +0.31% 

DAX 5,668.93 +37.56 +0.67% 

CAC 40 3,807.04 +25.19 +0.67% 

Asia

Symbol...... Last...... .....Change.......

Nikkei 225 10,325.28 -187.41 -1.78%  

Hang Seng 20,109.33 -489.22 -2.38%  

Straits Times 2,740.33 -71.38 -2.54% 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stocks-give-up-advance-as-apf-37805518.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

Stocks give up advance as financial stocks slide

Stocks erase gains as anxiety over Obama bank plan gives market its 5th drop in 7 days

By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writers , On Tuesday January 26, 2010, 5:23 pm

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks gave up a healthy advance and closed slightly lower Tuesday as investors suffered another bout of anxiety over President Barack Obama's plan to regulate banks.

The Dow Jones industrial average, up 90 points in the early afternoon, closed with a loss of 2.57. The other major indexes were also down modestly.

Uneasiness about Obama's plan to limit the size and trading operations of big banks pulled financial stocks and then the entire market lower. News reports that Paul Volcker, the head of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, would testify about the plan before Congress next week, contributed to the market's turnaround.

The drop was the market's fifth in seven days, and the fact that it came shortly before the closing bell showed how uneasy investors are; last-hour pullbacks were the hallmark of a troubled market during the financial crisis of 2008.

Obama's announcement of his plan last week helped give the market its worst week in 10 months. Traders said some investors had started to regard the proposals as political bluster before the latest reports dashed those hopes.

"There is maybe more than just a bark. Maybe this thing does have a bite," said Dan Deming, a trader with Stutland Equities in Chicago.

Even banks seen as strong like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell sharply.

The market had climbed most of the day on upbeat economic and corporate earnings news. The Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence rose to 55.9 in January from 53.6 in December. It was the third straight increase and the highest level in more than a year.

And insurer Travelers Cos. said an absence of catastrophe costs and a recovery in its investment portfolios lifted profits 60 percent for the final three months of 2009.

The Dow fell 2.57, or less than 0.1 percent, to 10,194.29. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 4.61, or 0.4 percent, to 1,092.17. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 7.07, or 0.3 percent, to 2,203.73.

Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was 1.1 billion shares, in line with Monday.

The day began with a bout of selling as China moved ahead with a plan to curb bank lending. Investors in the U.S. and elsewhere are concerned a slowdown in China's big economy could destabilize a worldwide recovery.

The drop Tuesday came as Federal Reserve policymakers began a two-day meeting on interest rate policy. The central bank is expected to keep rates at record lows, though investors will be looking at the Fed's assessment of the economy in a statement that will follow the meeting on Wednesday.

Investors on Wednesday also will be awaiting Obama's first State of the Union address.

Stocks broke a three-day slide Monday as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's prospects for confirmation to another four-year term brightened. His term ends Sunday. Doubts last week about his ability to get confirmed in the Senate, combined with the White House's latest drive to clamp down on U.S. banks, led to the big drop in the market from Wednesday through Friday.

The dollar rose against other major currencies Tuesday, while gold advanced.

Crude oil fell 55 cents to $74.71 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was unchanged at 3.63 percent from late Monday.

Dow component Travelers rose $1.34, or 2.7 percent, to $50.23 after its report.

Apple Inc. rose $3.07, or 1.5 percent, to $205.94 after posting a profit increase late Monday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 5.95, or 1 percent, to 612.16.

Asian markets fell as concerns rose about Japan's economy hurting the country's bond rating. Standard & Poor's lowered its outlook on Japan's credit rating to negative from stable, saying it would slash the country's long-term rating if its economy remains weak and debt stays high.

Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.8 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 2.4 percent.

In later trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent, Germany's DAX index and France's CAC-40 each advanced 0.7 percent.