Wall Street Ends Mixed On Choppy Trading

January 13, 2009 4:50 p.m. EST

New York. NY (AHN) - U.S. markets were choppy the majority of Tuesday as investors anticipate a slew of corporate earnings reports due later in the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 25 points or 0.3 percent, marking the fifth consecutive decline for the average. Dow components were split nearly even with 16 decliners and 14 advancers on the day.

Bank of America, down 6.8 percent was the largest Dow laggard, followed by Alcoa, down 5.1 percent. Shares of Alcoa were pressured from disappointing earnings released Monday night.

The S&P 500 finished with a 2 point gain or 0.2 percent. The financial sector helped the index finish higher, rising 1.4 percent. The gain snaps a four-day losing streak for the sector.

Tech squeezed out the largest gain with the Nasdaq Composite adding 8 points or 0.5 percent. Chipmakers were the strongest tech group for a second consecutive session as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index added 0.8 percent.

Crude oil was able to halt its recent slide, adding 19 cents a barrel to settle at $37.78 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In corporate news, Yahoo! announced Carol Bartz will take over as chief executive. Bartz was the former chief executive at Autodesk.

Drug giant Pfizer said Tuesday that it will likely lay-off 800 employees in its research & development department as it condenses it focus on fewer drugs.

On the economic front, The Commerce Department reported the November trade deficit was $40.4 billion, marking the smallest monthly deficit since November 2003.

The $40.4 billion gap was much less than the $56.7 billion economists had expected. The move was largely sparked by a 36.5 percent drop in oil imports, which is the largest drop for the commodity on record.

Also, The Treasury Department released the December budget, which showed an $83.6 billion deficit, slightly larger than the $83.0 billion economists had expected.

Wednesday's market will see the government's official release of December retail sales. Oil inventories for the week ending Jan. 9 are also set for release.