WALL STREET >>> Of Banking Blues and Tech Rock

Dow Got Bang(k)ed ; Nasdaq Blazes Forth

Despite an early trip into the black – courtesy of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's hints at more stimulus measures – stocks spent most of the session mired in red ink today.

Fueling the bears were escalating concerns about the nationwide foreclosure investigation's potential impact on the banking sector, as evidenced by Bank of America Corp.'s trip into new-low territory.

ANALYST QUOTE

"After the high-flying cloud computing stocks were crushed last week, now it's the financials that are the big underperformers. Can the overall market hold up even as the banks continue to drop? Only time will tell, but we all know how that worked during the last bear market."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA – 11,062.78) was off nearly 84 points at its intraday nadir, but pared most of its deficit to end on a narrower loss of 31.8 points, or 0.3%. Seventeen of the Dow's 30 components finished in the red – led by General Electric, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase – while tech concerns Microsoft Corp. and Cisco Systems paved the path higher for the 11 advancing equities; both Alcoa and Intel Corp. called it a wash.

However, despite today's dip, the Dow still finished the week 0.5% ahead.
The S&P 500 Index (SPX – 1,176.19) bounced back from its intraday lows, eking out a gain of 2.4%, or 0.2%.

For the week, the SPX added 0.9%

The Nasdaq Composite (COMP – 2,468.77) was the uncontested star of the session, avoiding the red altogether to finish with a gain of 33.3 points, or 1.4%.

Week on week the Nasdaq advanced a healthy 2.8%.

HAPPY WEEKEND