The stock markets, which early today swooned under grim housing news, could not sustain a modest, late-afternoon rally that followed the government’s release of details about stress tests for banks and plans to provide them more funds. In the final 30 minutes, the major indxes turned down again.
It was not immediately clear what spooked traders just before the final bell, but they had been whipsawed through the day with diverging financial news. But it appeared that the decline in housing sales and reports of some dividends being discontinued renewed fears that the recession could still deepen.
The major indexes, which had been in positive territory by 3:30 p.m., fell 1.1 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 80 points, and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 8. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 16 points.
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