Stocks Maintain Downward Drift

Sirius shares were off 0.7%; XM, which reported a widened loss Monday, ticked up 0.7%.

Returning to economic data, the Commerce Department said business inventories were up 1% sequentially in March, or 6.3% higher year over year. It should take 1.27 months -- virtually the same as last year -- to work through that inventory based on current sales data.

Also, the Labor Department said import prices, excluding the volatile effects of oil, were up 1.1% in April -- the same as the prior month. Stripping out agricultural products, export prices ticked up 0.6%, or less than half the growth seen in March.

Treasury prices were sliding. The 10-year note was off 15/32 in price to yield 3.86%, and the 30-year bond shed 22/32 in price, yielding 4.58%.

Foreign markets were mainly higher. In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ramped up 1.5% overnight, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index leaped 2%. As for Europe, Germany's Xetra Dax rose 0.3% and the Paris Cac tacked on 0.5%. London's FTSE 100 gave up 0.1%.