July 11, 2012-Stocks Recover From Session Lows in Weak Trading

Stocks showed a negative bias throughout much of the trading day on Wednesday, ending the session modestly lower. A negative reaction to the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting weighed on the markets, although stocks closed well off their worst levels of the day. While the Dow and the Nasdaq ended the session firmly in negative territory, the S&P 500 closed roughly flat. The S&P 500 edged down 0.02 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 1,341.45, while the Dow fell 48.59 points or 0.4 percent to 12,604.53 and the Nasdaq slid 14.35 points or 0.5 percent to 2,887.98. After initially showing a lack of direction, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of morning trading amid lingering concerns about the economic outlook following last week's disappointing jobs report. Continued uncertainty about the situation in Europe also weighed on the markets. Further selling pressure was seen following the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting held in June. While the minutes noted that the Fed members agreed that the central bank is prepared to take further if necessary, the Fed gave no hint that a third round of quantitative easing is imminent.