Wall Street Remains Choppy; Bernanke Unveils Plan to Withdraw Stimulus – February 10, 2010

Stocks inched lower on Wednesday as investors weighed a number of pressing issues. The session opened up with declines after the Fed released a detailed plan on how it will remove aid that was used to prop up the economy. Stocks briefly moved into positive territory during afternoon trading on hopes that a rescue plan for Greece will be presented this week. Those gains were quickly erased and stocks remained choppy until the closing bell. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was low due to heavy snowfall blanketing the East Coast, preventing traders from attending the session. European markets mostly ended higher, while Asian markets ended with strong gains. Dow component Walt Disney Co. (DIS) fell 0.8 percent after reporting higher-than-expected revenue late on Tuesday. U.S. light crude oil for March delivery rose 77 cents to settle at $74.52 a barrel. Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.64% from 3.63%. Market News As expected, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke unveiled a blueprint for retracting billions in aid that was provided by the central bank to prop up the economy during the height of the recession. Mr. Bernanke reiterated that the economy still needs some of the less restrictive money policies that the central bank currently has in place. Shares of New York Times Co. (NYT) declined after reporting that advertising revenue fell 15 percent during the fourth-quarter. The publisher earned $90.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, up from $27.7 million in the same quarter a year earlier. US lawmakers have urged Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) President Akio Toyoda to testify before a US congressional committee regarding recent safety concerns. Toyoda has delayed his scheduled US visit related to vehicle recalls to early next month in view of heavy snowfall in the US capital city. Honda Motor Co. (HMC) expanded its recall to cover an additional 378,758 vehicles . The recall is necessary to replace a possibly faulty driver's side airbag. The expanded recall will raise the total number of included models to almost 900,000. 6 Myths About Car Recalls Trade Gap Widens in December - The US trade deficit unexpectedly widened in December as imports rose faster than exports. The gap widened to $40.2 billion during the month, the biggest in a year. Microsoft (MSFT) Bing's share of the search market climbed in January . According to Experian Hitwise, searches on Bing increased 5 percent and search on Ask increased 4 percent in January 2010. Sprint 4Q Sales Miss Estimates - Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) , the third- largest US wireless carrier, posted fourth-quarter sales that fell more than analysts estimated. Other wireless providers luring customers away from the company was the main contributor to the loss. Other Interesting Tidbits Financial Regulatory Reform Isn't Happening - There's little hope for a global financial cop to make sure everybody plays by the rules, whatever those might be. 7 Little-Known Tax Breaks for Your 2009 Return - Lower your tax bill by claiming these credits or deductions. 5 Reasons You Should Consider a Roth IRA - Roth IRAs offer a way to invest for retirement while keeping the tax man at bay. Will You Get Rich Someday? - About a third of us think we will. And more than a few of us believe a ticket out of our workaday financial worries will have lottery numbers printed on it.