8/13/08 Markets Falls for Second Day as Oil Rises

8/13/08 The stock market continued its decline as the DJIA shed 109.42 to close at 11,533 and NASDAQ closed at 2,428.62 down 1.99. S&P closed at 1,285.80 down 3.79. The market's drop was caused by a rise in crude to 116.31 per barrel prices resulting from the release of lower refined gasoline inventories. Also, the financial sector fell as Bank of America (BAC 28.93 down 2.20) fell on news that its subsidiary Countrywide Financial was being sued by states, Morgan Stanley (MS 40.17 down 2.33) and Lehman were downgraded by Merrill. Retail sector saw bad news with weak July retail sales data being disappointing. It could have been worse. That's it for today from the land of the peaches.