Stocks Can't Shake Financial Worries

Crude oil on Tuesday remained at extraordinarily high levels, but futures were nonetheless in acute retreat, shedding $3.45 to settle at $124.31 a barrel.

Still, as the national average for gas at the pump continues edging ever closer to the $4 mark, General Motors (GM Quote) has said it will shutter four North American manufacturing plants that make gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs, as well as consider a sale of the Hummer brand. "Higher gasoline prices are changing consumer behavior, and they are significantly affecting the U.S. auto industry sales mix," said CEO Rick Wagoner. Shares of GM, a Dow component, ended up 0.8%.

Gas prices reached another all-time high of $3.978 a gallon on Tuesday.

Elsewhere on the corporate front, The Wall Street Journal reported that billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who has bulked up on Yahoo! (YHOO Quote) stock lately and has lined up 10 directors to replace current members of the board, will seek to oust Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang if he wins that proxy battle. Icahn said last month that the Internet-portal operator had "acted irrationally" in spurning a sweetened takeout bid by Microsoft (MSFT Quote).

Yahoo! shares closed down 1%.

As for earnings, homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL Quote) said it swung to a fiscal second-quarter loss of $93.7 million, or 59 cents a share, thanks to hefty asset writedowns. Still, that was better than Wall Street had anticipated, and shares added 3.5%.

Clothing maker Lululemon Athletica (LULU Quote) meanwhile trimmed down its earnings outlook for 2008, even as the company simultaneously posted a more-than-doubled first-quarter profit that matched the average analyst estimate. Shares gave up 6.1%.