The markets opened lower as the Federal Reserve offered to buy short-term debt from companies to ease the credit crunch. The Dow lost 5 points to 9950 while Nasdaq fell 9 points to 1853.
On the upside
Royale Energy (Nasdaq: ROYL) announced the discovery of natural gas in the Sacramento basin of California.Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) announced plans to spin off factories into a joint venture with the Persian Gulf state of Abu Dhabi.
Shares of General Electric (NYSE: GE) rebounded from 11-year lows as bargain hunters hoped that overseas growth would offset weak results from its financial services operations.
On the downside
Shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) fell after the bank announced plans to sell common stock to raise $10 billion.
Analysts are expecting a wider 3rd quarter loss for Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER).
Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP) blamed the weak economy for flat 3rd quarter same-store sales and earnings. The company operates over 3100 retail stores.
In the broad market,
declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 6 to 5 on
the NYSE and by a slim margin on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks
small cap stocks added 3 points to 599.
