Beige Book can't rescue stocks from Treasury yield worries

Updated

Stocks pulled out of a day-long decline this afternoon as investors divined "green shoots" in the Federal Reserve's "beige book" survey of economic conditions. The report, released at 2 p.m., found that the recession was moderating in some areas of the country, and markets started moving upward as traders digested it. But the Dow Jones industrial average couldn't erase all of its losses and finished down 24 points, or 0.27 percent, at 8,739.

McDonalds (MCD), Coca-Cola (KO), Kraft Foods (KFT) and bank stocks led the 30-stock average downward. Meanwhile, Alcoa (AA) and ExxonMobil (XOM) climbed as commodity prices continued to rise. Overall, rising yields on Treasury bonds and worries over the possibility of inflation helped hold stocks down.

For more stocks making moves today, be sure to check out BloggingStocks' market wrap-up.

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