Stocks Market's Early Gains Slipping Away
Updated from 11:04 a.m. EST
Stocks in New York were trading lower after an exuberant open Monday, as the U.S. and China each unveiled new plans to prop up companies and economies wounded by the financial crisis.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was up 13 points to 8956, and the
S&P 500
was down 2.9 points to 928. The
Nasdaq
was losing 10 points to 1637.
closed higher Monday following China's announcement of a $586 billion stimulus package to bolster consumer and business confidence. European indices, including the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt, also were marking gains.
Although China's initiative to bolster its economy has given the U.S. market a boost in early trading, such a decision calls into question the theory that China could continue to grow even as other economies suffer a downturn, said Phil Flynn, vice president and senior market analyst at Alaron Trading. "A few months ago, the biggest concern about China and the government was getting the economy to slow down." He said that the stimulus package "probably signals that things in China are probably a lot worse than people have feared."
Flynn said that the market was behaving as though China's stimulus package was a short-term bullish event, but he also said that the infrastructure buildout undertaken by the package is a longer-term plan, and the news is actually bearish for the short term. "I think what's going to happen is that the excitement is probably going to wear off," he said.
Credit markets remained a concern, as the Group of 20 finance ministers and central governors on Sunday released a statement calling for additional interest-rate cuts from central banks.
Three-month dollar Libor, a measure of the rates banks charge one another for large loans, dropped 6 basis points to 2.24%. Overnight Libor edged up 2 basis points to 0.35%.
"We're going to look back in three months and six months and realize the federal government took extraordinary amounts of action," said Gary Flam, portfolio manager at Bel Air Investment Advisors. He said that taken all together, the
Federal Reserve's
interest-rate cuts and other government actions were significant in restoring confidence, but "this financial crisis does have economic implications. People, businesses, governments going forward are going to have reduced leverage." He said he does not see a swift recovery and expects the economy to continue to stagnate into the first and second quarters of 2009.
Financial firms were in focus as Monday's session got under way. Troubled insurer
(AIG) - Get Report
received a revamped $150 billion bailout package from the U.S. government and reported a third-quarter loss of $24.47 billion, or $9.05 a share, compared with year-earlier net income of $3.09 billion, or $1.19 a share.
(C) - Get Report
is in talks to acquire a bank, according to a report in
The Wall Street Journal
. Earlier this year, Citi had been a suitor to
Wachovia
(WB) - Get Report
, only to have its offer trumped by
Wells Fargo
(WFC) - Get Report
.
Outside the financials, power company
(NRG) - Get Report
late Sunday rebuffed a $6.08 billion buyout offer from
Exelon
(EXC) - Get Report
.
Electronics retailer
Circuit City
(CC) - Get Report
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday.
Shipping company
Deutsche Post
said it would cut 9,500 jobs and reduce U.S. operations of its DHL Express business.
On the
side, financial conglomerate
Berkshire Hathaway
(BRK.A) - Get Report
announced a 77% decline in third-quarter profit that owed in part to unrealized losses on derivatives and other securities.
Telecom firm
Nortel Networks
(NT)
announced a third-quarter loss and said it would cut its head count by 1,300.
Meanwhile, mortgage company
Fannie Mae
(FNM)
reported a $29 billion loss for the third quarter.
Meat products producer
Tyson Foods
(TSN) - Get Report
announced an increase in third-quarter earnings, and fast-food concern
McDonald's
(MCD) - Get Report
said global same-store sales increased 8.2% in October.
As for
,
General Motors
(GM) - Get Report
suffered a Deutsche Bank downgrade to sell, and the bank's analysts cut the automaker's share price target to $0 from $4. Barclays analysts moved their price target to $1. On Friday, GM reported a $2.5 billion loss and a rapidly declining cash-flow level, spurring speculation that the company will need government assistance to avoid bankruptcy. GM shares were lately tanking more than 25%.
Wells Fargo
(WFC) - Get Report
, on the other hand, got a Credit Suisse boost to outperform from neutral.
Looking at commodities, crude oil was falling 30 cents to $60.74 a barrel. Gold was up $11.80 to $746 an ounce.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were rising in price. The 10-year note was adding 6/32 to yield 3.77%, and the 30-year was up 29/32, yielding 4.22%. The dollar was gaining on the euro, yen and pound.
