Banks lower in New York

New York equities markets were lower again at mid-afternoon on Tuesday after their counterparts in Asia and Europe saw declines on the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite each had dropped 0.1 percent, to 10,780.34 and 2,088.79 respectively. The S&P 500 was 0.2 percent lower, to 1,233.55. Also helping bring about the declines was new data showing that producer price inflation was up more than had been expected, by 0.3 percent rather than the predicted 0.2 percent in May.

Banks were down on the day, with the S&P banking index down 2.7 percent. Goldman Sachs lost 2.1 percent to $141.99 even though its second-quarter earnings were doubled. Merrill Lynch was down 2.9 percent to $66.61. Bear Stearns dropped 4.7 percent to $125.55.

In the mining sector the declining price of gold sent Barrick Gold down 1.7 percent to $27.16. Phelps Dodge, meanwhile, dropped 3.7 percent to $73.96.

Stocks related to computers were up on the day. Chipmaker Intel added 2.2 percent to $17.23, while Apple Computer advanced by 3 percent to $58.69.

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy was up 5 percent to $51.46 after it said that its first quarter profits were 37 percent higher than in the same period last year.

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