Stock Market's Losses Build as Bailout Vote Nears

Looking at the day's earnings, electronics retailer Circuit City (CC Quote) reported a wider second-quarter loss and withdrew its previous 2009 earnings forecast.

Pharmacy chain Walgreen (WAG Quote), meanwhile, reported profit that rose 13% year over year on strong revenue.

In the pharmaceutical sector, ImClone (IMCL Quote) was still in talks to sell itself to a large drugmaker following a hostile takeout bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY Quote).

As for economic data, the Department of Commerce said that in August, personal incomes rose 0.3%, up from a 0.7% decrease in July and above economists' estimates. Personal spending was flat in August, falling short of analyst predictions of 0.2% growth.

In the commodities space, the price of crude oil was declining $6.20 to $100.69 a barrel, and gold was gaining $13.90 to $902.40 an ounce.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were rising in price as investors sought safety from the credit crisis. The 10-year note was up 1-22/32 to yield 3.65%, and the 30-year was gaining 3-11/32, yielding 4.18%. The dollar was rising sharply against the euro and pound but falling vs. the yen.

Overseas exchanges, including the FTSE in London and the Dax in Frankfurt, were taking losses. Asian indices such as the Nikkei in Japan and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed on the downside.