 But mostly due to Bambi's speech.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Wednesday as investors were hit by a report showing yet more deterioration in the housing market, while uncertainty about Washington's plans to shore up the banking system persisted. President Barack Obama's first address to Congress offered few new insights on government plans to stabilize the economy and shore up banks.
| He offered no insight; instead he promised to be the bull in the china shop ... |
Investors sold off shares of financial services companies and big manufacturers including Boeing, down 4 percent, and United Technologies, off 3.1 percent.
| Perhaps because investors heard Bambi slam defense spending ... |
Sales of previously owned U.S. homes plunged an unexpectedly high 5.3 percent in January, an industry group reported.
| Who's going to buy a house right now? Why buy when sellers can wait and see if the gummint bails out their mortgage payments? |
I still think the bank nationalization stuff is on everybody's mind," said Kevin Kruszenski, head of listed trading at KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland. "If you have banks get nationalized in Europe, does that put pressure on the U.S. to do something?"
Financial shares staged a brief rebound after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a second day of congressional testimony regulators were not planning to nationalize Citigroup.
| And then tanked again when investors realized Bernanke doesn't have the power to prevent it. |
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