Stocks Maintain Downward Drift

Also weighing on investors Tuesday were Bernanke's comments at an Atlanta Fed conference this morning. The central-bank chief said that, despite some "welcome signs" that liquidity turmoil is abating, "at this stage conditions in financial markets are still far from normal."

Bernanke cited several justifications for that assessment, including the fact that a number of "moribund" securitization markets remain, that risk spreads are still "quite elevated," and that pressures persist in short-term funding markets.

"Ultimately," he said, "market participants themselves must address the fundamental sources of financial strains -- through deleveraging, raising new capital, and improving risk management --and this process is likely to take some time."

At the same time, crude oil jumped to a new intraday high of $126.98 a barrel before easing to $126.52, a gain of $2.29. Gold futures sank $12.30 to $872.60 an ounce.

The U.S. dollar's earlier gains were deflating a bit, but the greenback still recently firmed by 0.2% against the euro at $1.5503. Against the yen, the dollar added 0.6% to 104.48.

On the corporate front, Wal-Mart's current-quarter outlook leaned to the lower end of expectations, even as its first-quarter profit grew by 6.9% to a better-than-expected $3.02 billion, or 76 cents a share. Shares dropped 1.6%.

Still, the Commerce Department appeared to provide some early support after reporting that retail sales, excluding cars, swelled by 0.5% in April, compared with the 0.2% economists' consensus. March data were revised upward to 0.4%. Keeping in the effects of declining auto sales, the numbers showed a drop of 0.2%, as expected.