Stocks Hold to Gains

The Census Bureau's wholesale inventories report for September showed a decline of 0.1%, down from a 0.6% increase in August but below the consensus forecast of a 0.3% uptick. The National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index declined 4.6%, a heftier loss than the 3.4% anticipated by analysts.

In terms of corporate news, quarterly earnings statements were still occupying investor attention. U.S. automakers unveiled results that showed a crippling slowdown in the industry.

Automaker Ford (F Quote) said it lost $129 million for the third quarter and burned $7.7 million in cash and said it would cut additional jobs.

General Motors (GM Quote) shares stopped trading ahead of its earnings release. The company announced a loss that was much heavier than anticipated and reported $6.9 billion in negative cash flow for the quarter.

Paul Nolte, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates, said that GM's loss wasn't much of a surprise. With auto sales at current levels, he said, "We'll probably lose one of the big three within the next year. ... We could lose two."

Nolte said that GM isn't getting killed so much by its auto business as by its financing arm. "They've gotten well away from the basic business and they've been caught in an economy that's turned away from both sides."

Staying with autos, Bloomberg reported that GM, Ford and Chrysler are looking to get $50 billion in loans from the government to cover health care spending and general liquidity. Such aid would come on top of $25 billion loan passed by Congress in September.