NYSE mixed on rates uncertainty

There were big losers and big gainers in the New York equities markets on Tuesday. Retailer Sears lost 8.7 percent and closed at $141.50 as it reported losses in the most recent quarter, making it one of the worst performers on the S&P 500 for the day.

In the food sector, ConAgra was down 5.4 percent to $24.50 when they warned investors that earnings will be affected by problems in its packaged-meat division. On the winning side, biotechnology company Monsanto was up 4.8 percent to $61.63 after it announcement that it was taking an equity share in Solutia, one of their bankrupt affiliates.

A notable but not as precipitous rise was the 1 percent gain for General Motors as it announced a plan to cut 25,000 jobs in the next four years. Shares in GM have declined in value by 22 percent this year. Overall, the S&P 500 fell just a bit to 1,197.36, the Nasdaq was down 0.4 percent to close at 2,067.14, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 percent to 10,484.18.

The markets had rallied earlier in the day after Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan’s Monday night comments to a conference in Beijing were interpreted to mean that interest rates would not be going too high in the immediate future.

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