Tuesday’s Market Recap: Dow Loses For 5th Straight Day

Bearish sentiment continued Tuesday, as markets finished at lower levels again. The Dow (^DJI) closed at 8,419 points, after losing 1.18%. This marks five straight days of losses for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Nasdaq (^IXIC) lost .71%, and finished with 1,521 points. While the S&P 500 (^GSPC) declined .97%, and closed at 863 points. The Russell 2000 declined 1.35%, and finished at 468 points. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) stock average was up 1.57%, as Britain’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE)  was .16% in the green.

Oil prices fell even lower in NYMEX trading, as the cost of a barrel finished at $38.98 on Tuesday. Other commodities such as heating oil and gasoline fell as well, settling at $1.32 and $0.85 respectively. Natural Gas increased $0.44 on the day, and finished at $5.75.

Lower home sales contributed to the pullback in trading, as the newest data was released. Existing home sales were down 8.6% from October, as total home sales fell 17% in November. Median home prices were recorded as being down to $183,000. The only bit of good news that came out of the report was that inventory of unsold new homes fell 7%. Investors worry the bottom is still far away for the real estate markets and the economy as well.

Pittsburgh-based bank PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC) saw shares rise after its acquisition of National City Bank Corp. (NCC) was approved by shareholders.

Cutting out another piece of the government’s $700 billion bailout pie, American Express (AXP) was approved to receive $3.39 billion. The 4^th largest credit card company is facing higher financing costs and huge credit losses across the country.

Textron Inc. (TXT) announced it was planning the cut 2,200 jobs and its finance businesses that don’t deal directly with its manufacturing units. The company also expects to have significantly lower earnings than what analysts are expecting, which had been around $0.75 per share.

Disclosure: The fund the autoer is associated with holds a long position with PNC

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