Bulls, Bears Wrestle for Control of Wall Street

Looking at the day's earnings, hardware store operator Home Depot (HD Quote) announced earnings that fell 31% year over year on declining revenue. Fashion retailer Saks (SKS Quote) swung to a third-quarter loss.

In merger news, Alpha Natural (ANR Quote) and Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF Quote) announced they had agreed to drop previous plans for a merger valued at about $10 billion.

Shifting to economic data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that producer prices fell by a record 2.8% in October. Economists were expecting a decline of 1.8%. The core rate PPI increased by 0.4%, above expectations for a 0.1% uptick.

As for commodities, crude oil was losing 5 cents to $54.90 a barrel. Gold was losing $5.80 at $736.20 an ounce.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were rising in price. The 10-year note was adding 11/32 to yield 3.61%. The 30-year was up 14/32, yielding 4.17%. The dollar was flat vs. the yen and gaining on the euro and pound.

Overseas, European exchanges such as the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt were mainly trading lower. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed with losses.