Stocks Finish Mixed in Cautious Session

Stocks closed in mixed territory Monday after Senator Dodd announces financial regulatory proposals, and a report showed industrial production rose 0.1% in February.

Author:: Melinda Peer
Publish date:: Mar 15, 2010 5:02 PM EDT

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Stocks finished mixed, but well off their lows Monday after Sen. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, announced new financial regulatory proposals to rein in Wall Street, and morning factory data revealed some encouraging signs in the sector.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

added 17 points, or 0.2%, to 10,642. The

S&P 500

edged up nearly a point, or 0.1%, to 1151, though the

Nasdaq

slipped 5 points, or 0.2%, to 2362.

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Investors appeared to be showing caution ahead of Tuesday's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee as they question whether there will be any changes made to monetary policy.

Market observers got a glimpse of Senator Dodd's newest

financial regulatory reform measures

in the afternoon. The senator's speech laid out a series of proposals, including the creation of an independent consumer watchdog agency within the

Federal Reserve

and a systemic risk council, all while vowing that Congress would adopt financial reform sometime this year.

Stocks began selling off in the morning despite some improving factory figures. Industrial production rose 0.1% in February, surpassing economists' projections that levels would remain unchanged following January's 0.9% gain. Capacity utilization ticked up by 0.2 of a percentage point to 72.7%, compared with 72.5% in January. Economists had been expecting capacity utilization of 72.3% in February.

"Both industrial production and capacity utilization did come in slightly better than expected, which I think was quite constructive considering the severe weather in the Northeast in addition to recall activity from Toyota," said David Allon, senior financial professional and co-chair of the investment committee at Firstrust Financial Resources. "In light of those two factors, I think that industrial production was actually surprisingly strong, and for capacity utilization to be up with those two storms, it really speaks to the strength of the economy."

Manufacturing activity in New York slowed in March, according to the

Empire State Manufacturing Survey, which came in at 22.86, from 24.91 in February. The level, however, was better than a reading of 21.45 that economists had been expecting for March.

Allon attributed market weakness to comments from China Premier Wen Jiabao over the weekend indicating that the

yuan will remain stable despite urging from the U.S. to loosen its exchange-rate controls.

Furthering the sense of mounting tension with China were reports that

Google

(GOOG) - Get Report

is expected to shut its Chinese-language search engine within weeks. Google's stock shed $19.35, or 3.3%, to $560.19.

Wal-Mart

(WMT) - Get Report

was the Dow's best performer, with shares up 2.8% to $55.43 on an upgrade to buy from hold. Citigroup analyst Deborah Weinswig cited the company's competitive food business.

Energy was one of the day's worst-performing sectors as

oil prices slipped below the $80-a-barrel level.

Exxon Mobil

(XOM) - Get Report

and

Chevron

(CVX) - Get Report

were among the Dow's biggest laggards.

Caterpillar

(CAT) - Get Report

Alcoa

(AA) - Get Report

and

Travelers

(TRV) - Get Report

also dragged down the Dow.

Shares of

Boston Scientific

(BSX) - Get Report

slumped 12.6% to $6.80 on news that its ICD cardiac devices line is indefinitely on hold as the result of a regulatory filing documentation error. Shares were among the most heavily traded on the

New York Stock Exchange

, following

Citigroup

The NYSE had a listed volume of 4.1 billion, and the Dow saw volume of 160.6 million, compared with an average of 200.4 million.

Consol Energy

(CNX) - Get Report

is buying

Dominion Resources'

(D) - Get Report

Appalachian exploration and production business for $3.5 billion in cash. Consol's stock slid 10.1%, while Dominion's gained 2 cents, or 0.1%, to $39.71.

Shares of

Phillips-Van Heusen

(PVH) - Get Report

jumped 9.8%, to $52.40 on news that it agreed to acquire

Tommy Hilfiger

for roughly 2.2 billion euros ($3 billion).

Pinnacle Entertainment

(PNK) - Get Report

tapped

Multimedia Games

(MGAM)

Executive Anthony M. Sanfilippo to become its new president and chief executive. Shares whipsawed back and forth, closing at $8.64.

Capital One

(COF) - Get Report

said its credit card charge-off rate fell for the first time in at least five months in February. The stock inched higher by 9 cents, or 0.2%, at $39.98.

First Solar

(FSLR) - Get Report

sold a 30-megawatt photovoltaic solar power project to

Southern

(SO) - Get Report

and Turner Renewable Energy.

PepsiCo's

(PEP) - Get Report

board approved an annual dividend increase of 7% and the repurchase of up to $15 billion of common stock through June 2013.

In commodities markets, crude oil for April delivery traded $1.44 lower to settle at $79.80 a barrel, while the April

gold contract added $3.70 to settle at $1,105.40 an ounce.

The