Market Wrap-Up

After enduring a 680-point decrease Monday, one of the largest drops in trading history, the stock market tried to get back on track 24 hours later. It got a helping hand from General Electric (GE), who said it would maintain its dividend payment despite a pullback in earnings. GE's share rose almost 14.2% and helped push stocks higher during the session. Also helping stocks Tuesday was an announcement from the Federal Reserve that it would extend three emergency loan programs into next year.

But keeping any enthusiasm in check was another round of bad news from the corporate sector. A UBS analyst is expecting Goldman Sachs (GS) to record a fourth-quarter loss. Bloomberg reported Beazer Homes (BZH) posted a fourth-quarter loss five times larger than analysts were predicting. Shares of the ailing home builder dropped 8%. Ford (F) said it hopes to return to profitability -- in 2011. But company officials are still applying for a $9 billion line of credit from the federal government when the heads of the Big Three auto makers head to Capitol Hill once again this week to lay out their recovery plans to Congress. (General Motors (GM) wants $12 billion.) Meanwhile, another round of dismal data on auto sales showed just how dire the situation is in Detroit and Sears (SHLD) poor sales reminded investors retailers are also in a tough position.

Crude prices continued to slide lower Tuesday. Investors have become concerned about diminishing demand as the U.S. consumer cuts back on purchases and as the economy here has officially been declared in recession. Crude closed the session down almost $2 a barrel to the $47 level, its lowest closing price in three years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average initially rallied over 200 points in early trading on the GE news. But by midday investors were taking down some of those profits. However, as has been the norm the last few months stocks experienced chaotic trading as the closing bell neared. The Dow ended the session up 270 points to 8,419.

Winners

An analyst upgrade of key real estate investment trusts provided a spark for that sector Tuesday. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate ETF (IYR) gained 11.9%.

A decrease in the dollar versus foreign currencies was enough to cause traders to jump back into gold-focused ETFs as a hedge. Market Vectors Gold Miners (GDX) climbed 8.5%.

Losers

The pullback in oil hurt natural resources ETFs. The United States Oil fund (USO) lost 3.9% while its sister offering, United States Gasoline (UGA), dropped 3.4%.

Wednesday's Notebook

Earnings & Conference Calls
Aeropostale, Alloy, Casella Waste, Collective Brands, Del Monte, Diamond Foods, Dynamex, Jo-Ann Stores

Economic Data
7:00a.m. MBA Mortgage Application Survey
8:30a.m. 3Q Productivity & Labor Costs
10:00a.m. Nov. ISM Non-Mfg Index
10:35p.m. API Oil Industry Report
10:35p.m. U.S. Energy Dept Oil Inventories
2:00p.m. Federal Reserve Beige Book

Quick Take

A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Tuesday.