The Dow and S&P lost ground on Wednesday as declining oil prices hurt energy companies and financial stocks were sold off on concerns the bank profits could be affected by legislation being considered by the government.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the US administration intends to soon end the $US700 billion financial bailout program. He didn’t provide details but said the government is close to the point at which it can wind down the program.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 19 points to 10,453. The S&P500 Index is flat at 1,109 while the NASDAQ improved 9 points to 2,185.
In economic news: Payroll services firm ADP said employers in the private sector cut 169,000 jobs in November. The report was higher than forecasts for cuts of 150,000 jobs but came in less than the 196,000 job losses in October in a signal that suggests job losses are slowing.
In another jobs report, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said employers announced 50,349 planned job cuts in November which was 9.6% lower than October.
The Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book report that the economy improved “modestly” across the U.S. from October to mid-November as eight regions indicated an improvement in conditions because of higher consumer spending while the other four regions said conditions were little changed.
In company news: JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) shares closed 0.69% lower at $41.93 but traded lower during the session after a report from research and investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein said its revenue could fall by as much as $3 billion in a "worst case" scenario under new legislation being considered and earnings cut by as much as 20 cents a share. The legislation aims to have over-the-counter derivatives traded on a centralized exchange which would allow regulators access to greater information about the market.
Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) shares lost 1.93% to $27.45 after a report in the Los Angeles Times said the bank will close 122 branches in California due to its acquisition of Wachovia Bank in 2008. 101 of the closing branches are Wachovia offices while 21 are Wells Fargo and the closures aim to reducing the overlap of branches in areas.
Shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) jumped 2.71 percent to $142.25 on the Nasdaq after analytics firm comScore said that sales for online retailers on Cyber Monday were 5% higher than a year ago. Cyber Monday is the name of the Monday following the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, Black Friday.
Nokia (NYSE:NOK) shares traded in the U.S. fell 3.5% to $12.94 as the mobile phone maker said it expects handset market volumes to grow around 10 percent in 2010 said its market share would be unchanged next year. The report came in above analysts expectations of 8.6 percent growth.
In the NASDAQ Top 100: LAM Research was the best performer on the Nasdaq overnight, its shares improved 5.32% to $36.81, followed by Seagate Technology and KLA Tencor. The worst performer was Paccar shares down 2.81% to $36.99, while Activision Blizzard and Ryanair Holdings also closed lower.
