Wall Street out of steam after big day

First Posted:

SARA LEPRO AP Business Writer
NEW YORK — Wall Street fell moderately Tuesday following a jump the day before that sent the Standard & Poor’s 500 index into positive territory for the year.

“Today’s action, just drifting around, is not that surprising given Monday’s rally,” said Darin Newsom, a senior analyst at DTN in Omaha, Neb.
Traders had little reaction to comments from Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke, who told Congress the economy should start growing again later this year. Bernanke did warn that even after a recovery begins, the economy will still show signs of weakness, but that caveat didn’t surprise investors.
“I thought in general, the comments were optimistic, but I’m not sure they told us anything new,” said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management.
A growing amount of upbeat economic data have driven stocks to their best two-month performance in nearly 35 years. However a number of dark clouds still hang over Wall Street, including growing unemployment and mixed news from first-quarter corporate earnings reports.
This week, two major news events could easily upset the market’s mood. Results are due Thursday for the government’s “stress tests” on banks, and on Friday the government will report monthly employment data, one of the economic indicators most closely watched by investors.
“We’re really not pushing the market that much lower,” Newsome said. “There is still this general sense that things have improved a bit.”