Stocks Fall as Investors Rush to Lock In Gains
11/14/08 - 12:06 PM EST
Mike Taylor
Updated from 10:55 a.m. EST
Stocks in New York were sagging Friday as traders sought to lock in some of their gains following a sharp rally late Thursday and as credit troubles continued to rock the hurting financial sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was losing 253 points to 8583, and the S&P 500 was giving back 30 points to 881. The Nasdaq shed 60 points to 1536. As the day's trading began, new signs emerged of the credit troubles that are continuing to rock the ailing financial sector. The Wall Street Journal reported that Citigroup (C Quote - Cramer on C - Stock Picks) is gearing up to cut 10,000 jobs and raise interest rates on many credit-card customers. Elsewhere among financials, Dexia SA is getting set to sell its bond-insurance segment FSA Holding to Assured Guaranty (AGO Quote - Cramer on AGO - Stock Picks). Meanwhile, the BBC reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS Quote - Cramer on RBS - Stock Picks) is eliminating 3,000 jobs over the next several weeks. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke at the European Central Banking Conference. Bernanke said that turmoil in the financial system has warranted international help and that markets remain severely strained. His speech comes as world leaders prepare for a summit in Washington over the next couple of days. The Group of Twenty finance ministers and central bank officials plan to meet to discuss the worldwide financial meltdown. Ahead of the meeting, the U.S. government was rolling out several new initiatives to alleviate the crisis. The FDIC released details of a plan to use $24.4 billion to guarantee 2.2 million mortgages, thereby helping some 1.5 million Americans stay in their homes. The President's Working Group on Financial Markets, meanwhile, offered a plan to improve regulation of derivatives and credit default swaps. The plan included a provision for the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to share information on the market for credit default swaps.
RSS
