Stocks Churn on Global Rate Cuts

Agricultural products developer Monsanto (MON Quote) posted a narrowed fourth-quarter loss on rising revenues, sending shares higher in early trading.

In autos, Toyota (TM Quote) Senior Managing Director Yoichiro Ichimaru said that his company was facing difficulties selling cars in the U.S. but was not reducing its sales goals.

Meanwhile, domestic carmakers Ford (F Quote) and General Motors (GM Quote) suffered a Citigroup downgrade to hold from sell.

Looking at the day's economic data, August pending home sales figures from the National Association of Realtors climbed unexpectedly. The NAR report showed a 7.4% increase in its sales index, which rose to 93.4 from 87 in July. Economists had been anticipating a 1.3% decline in pending home sales.

Weekly oil inventories from the Energy Information Administration showed a larger-than-expected increase in oil reserves. Crude inventories rose by 8.1 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 3, well above analyst expectations.

Over in the commodities arena, crude oil was declining 57 cents to $89.49 a barrel. Gold was advancing $28 to $910 an ounce.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasuries were declining. The 10-year was down 15/32 to yield 3.56%, and the 30-year was off 4/32, yielding 4.04%. The dollar was declining sharply vs. the yen, but gaining on the euro and pound.

Lately, European indices such as the FTSE in London and the Dax in Frankfurt were lower. Asia fared worse; Japan's Nikkei closed down 9.4%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 8.2%.