Dow struggles higher
Blue-chip indicator rises again, but Nasdaq loses steam. New government lending plan and weak economy are in focus.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Nasdaq slipped Tuesday, but the Dow and S&P 500 ended higher for the third straight session as investors welcomed the government's latest efforts to jumpstart lending, but remained cautious.
Treasury prices surged, lowering the corresponding yields. The dollar tumbled versus major currencie and oil prices slumped.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) gained 0.4%, ending higher for the third session in a row. The last time the Dow gained for three straight sessions was in late August.
The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index added 0.7%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 0.5%.
Stocks rose in the morning after the government announced a pair of new programs that will provide roughly $800 billion to increase the availability of consumer and mortgage lending. (Full story)
But the advance petered out and stocks plunged through the afternoon as investors sorted through weak economic readings and opted to cash out of some of the recent technology winners. The market ended in mixed territory.
"It's positive that the federal government is being proactive and the bond market certainly loves it today, because it's explicit demand for bonds," said Brian Battle, vice president at Performance Trust Capital Partners. "But the stock market is less certain."
He said stock investors may also be taking the scope of Tuesday's $800 billion announcement as a sign that things are actually as bad as some fear. The GDP and housing market reports added to those concerns.
There may also be frustration that despite the massive amounts of money being put to work by the government, the tangible improvement has been minimal, said Robert Loest, portfolio manager at Integrity Funds.
"All of this money is being used in an ad-hoc fashion that doesn't seem to be helping the job market or stabilizing the financial system," Loest said.
"I think we are creating a huge debt load and we're not really getting anywhere," he said.
On the plus side, he thinks the market is setting itself up for a short-term technical rally, due to both the psychology having gotten so bad recently and the enormous amount of cash on the sidelines.
Wednesday brings a buffet of economic reports, including readings on jobless claims, income and spending, manufacturing, housing and consumer sentiment.
Stocks surged Monday in a broad rally as Citigroup (C, Fortune 500)'s massive rescue package and President-elect Barack Obama's picks for his economic team pushed investors off the sidelines.
Including Friday's advance, the Dow gained 891.10 points for the period, its biggest two-session gain ever, according to Dow Jones. The two-day percentage gain of 11.8% was the biggest since October 1987. The S&P 500's rise of 13.2% was also its biggest two-session percentage gain since October 1987.
All financial markets are closed Thursday for Thanksgiving. Markets have a shortened session on Friday.
Economy: The U.S. economy saw its worst quarterly decline in seven years, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. GDP declined at an annual rate of 0.5% in the third quarter versus an earlier reading of a decline of 0.3%. The drop in GDP was in line with expectations.
Although the U.S. is not officially considered to be in recession, it is generally believed to have been in recession since at least the start of the third quarter. The fourth quarter is expected to be the low point of the economic cycle and the first quarter of next year is expected to show weakness as well.
Another report showed the continued weakness of the housing market. The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price national index posted a 16.6% decline in the third quarter, the biggest drop on record.
But another report was a bit more upbeat, showing that consumer confidence recovered a bit in November from a record low hit in October.
Separately, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) said its watch list of problem banks spiked in the third quarter.
On the move: Big financial stocks continued to rise for a third session, including Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) and Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500).
But many of the tech advancers of the last few sessions retreated, including Cisco Systems (CSCO, Fortune 500), Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) and Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500).
Late Monday, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500) reported better-than-expected sales and revenue and forecast upbeat fiscal 2009 profit, matching its pre-announcement from a week earlier. However, analysts Tuesday questioned whether it would be able to maintain its sales pace considering the slowdown in tech spending. Shares fell 7%.
GM (GM, Fortune 500) shares continued to plunge amid worries about the ability of the company and the industry to stay afloat. (Full story)
In other news, BHP Billiton (BHP) is giving up its $68 billion all-stock hostile bid for fellow miner Rio Tinto (RTP), due to the downturn in commodities amid the economic slowdown. BHP shares gained 14.5%, while Rio shares fell 27%.
Market breadth was mixed and volume was moderate. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers two to one on volume of 1.88 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers five to four on volume of 2.52 billion shares.
Other markets: Asian markets rallied, with the Japanese Nikkei closing up 5.2%. European markets closed with moderate gains, with the London FTSE adding 0.4%.
U.S. light crude oil for January delivery fell $3.73 to settle at $50.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gasoline prices continued to slump to 3-1/2 year lows, with gas down 2.3 cents to a national average of $1.885 a gallon, according to a survey of credit-card activity released Tuesday by AAA. Prices have been dropping for over two months. In that time, prices have lost $1.97 a gallon, or over 51%.
The dollar gained versus the euro and the yen.
Bonds: Treasury prices rallied, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.10% from 3.34% Monday. Last week, the 2-year, 10-year and 30-year government bonds all hit the lowest levels since the Federal Reserve started keeping records in 1962.
The yield on the 3-month Treasury bill rose to 0.115% from 0.105% Tuesday, not far from 68-year lows of zero. The 3-month - seen as the safest place to put money in the short term - last hit these levels in September as investor panic peaked.
The low yield means nervous investors would rather preserve their money despite no interest rather than risk the stock market.
Lending rates rose a bit. The 3-month Libor rate rose to 2.2% from 2.17% Monday, while overnight Libor rose to 0.93% from 0.8% Monday, according to Dow Jones. Libor is a key bank lending rate. (Full story) 
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