Stocks fall ahead of US report card on banks
By STEPHEN BERNARD
AP Business Writer
(AP:NEW YORK) Investors turned away from stocks ahead of the latest U.S. government report card on banks.
Stocks fell Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down by about 100 points. Overseas markets also pulled back.
The U.S. government is expected to announce as early as Monday which banks will be allowed to return bailout funds. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and American Express Co. are expected to get approval to repay their loans, according to The Washington Post.
Other banks that were told by the government last month to raise funds to help protect against a potential worsening in the economy must submit plans Monday about how they are raising that capital.
Investors are also booking some gains from the market's three-month rally as concerns linger about the economy.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index has surged 39 percent from a 12-year low on March 9. Interest rates on government bonds are higher and oil prices are near six-month highs.
In the first hour of trading, the Dow fell 95.68, or 1.1 percent, to 8,667.45. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 10.20, or 1.1 percent, to 929.89, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 23.66, or 1.3 percent, to 1,825.76.
Major European markets all fell more than 1 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1 percent, Germany's DAX index slid 1.3 percent, and France's CAC-40 dropped 1.7 percent.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average finished with a gain of 1 percent.
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