US equities markets mixed on Tuesday

The New York equities markets were mixed on Tuesday as investors tried to figure out Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan’s Monday night comments to a conference in Beijing.

Finally deciding that he implied that interest rates will stay low for the present, the markets rallied for most of the day before closing to varied results.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent to close at 10,484.18, while the S&P 500 was down fractionally to 1,197.36, and the Nasdaq fell 0.4 percent to a close of 2,067.14.

General Motors was up 1 percent on the announcement that they will cut 25,000 jobs over four years. Shares in GM have lost 22 percent of their value this year. Biotechnology company Monsanto rose 4.8 percent to $61.63 after the announcement that it would take an equity share in one of their bankrupt affiliates, Solutia.

Retailer Sears was among the worst performers on the S&P 500, falling 8.7 percent to $141.50 on a report of losses in the latest quarter. ConAgra was also down, 5.4 percent to $24.50 as they warned investors that problems in its packaged-meat division would have an effect on earnings.

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