Stocks Slide Back Into Red

Wall Street finished off the third-quarter in negative territory on Wednesday. After zigzagging over the course of the session, investors finally gave in and allowed stocks to decline. Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 954.3 million shares. A small rally following the Commerce Department's report on GDP was quickly cut short as investors mulled over additional economic data. Weaker-than-expected readings on manufacturing and the labor market dragged on the session. An unexpected fall in the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index caught most analysts off guard. Economists were expecting the index to rise to 52, but the index actually fell to 46.1 in September. Shares of CIT Group (CIT) sank 41% on worries that it may not be able to avoid bankruptcy after all. U.S. light crude oil for October delivery rose $3.90 to settle at $70.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the government reported a surprise drop in inventories. Bond prices were little changed, but recovered from earlier losses. The dollar was mixed against other currencies. Gold prices rose $14.90 to settle at $1009.30 an ounce.

Off the Street

Job losses in the private sector continued to mount in September. Unfortunately, the numbers are even worse than expected. The latest report from ADP showed that private-sector employers slashed 254,000 jobs in September, worst than the 200,000 analysts projected. More jobs would be great, but we may have to settle for relative employment gains.

Wait Until 2017 Before Job Market Recovers

Bank of America (BAC) is in the process of unloading a lot of its noncore assets. Ameriprise Financial, Inc (AMP) has become the lucky recipient of the long-term asset-management business of Columbia Management. Once the transaction closes in the spring, Ameriprise's business will have global assets under management of nearly $400 billion .

American Express (AXP) is gearing up for another holiday season. The credit card company had decided to eliminate monthly fees that are assessed when gift cards go unused. The company's decision, which takes effect immediately, takes a step above the legislation that Congress enacted in the spring that would limit, but not eliminate, monthly fees on gift cards.

Toy R Us must be more confident in the holiday shopping season than most analysts. The toy retailer is planning to hire around 35,000 seasonal workers in anticipation of the usually busy shopping time. Toy R Us may want to pay more attention to Wal-Mart (WMT) mainly because the discount retailer is planning to offer 100 toys at $10 during the key holiday season. Cash-strapped consumers are definitely looking for bargains, so prices this low are very appealing.

Continental Airlines (CAL) has jumped on the fee bandwagon and will start implementing an additional $10 fee during three of the year's busiest travel days ( Nov. 29 , Jan. 2, and Jan. 3). If the airline industry keeps this up, more people will be staying at home or making other travel arrangements.

The General Motors and eBay (EBAY) love affair has ended after a quick courtship. Following an enormous amount of hype, the automaker had decided to end its seven-week program of selling new cars in California through eBay Inc.'s online marketplace.

CIT Group Inc (CIT) only has two options left. The troubled lender can either exchange their debt voluntarily or face a pre-packaged bankruptcy. Unfortunately, both options will leave taxpayers empty handed.

How CIT saved Christmas : Postponing its collapse gave retailers a chance

Other Juicy Tidbits

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If Hugo Chavez is selling dollars, maybe you should be buying .

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We all know that the Bush-era deficits were bad. How does President Obama stack up ?