Market Wrap-Up

The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee announced it dropped a key interest rate to a range of 0% to 0.25% Tuesday -- a deeper cut than investors had expected -- and that it would buy up agency debt and mortgage backed securities. Traders took that news as signs leaders in Washington are trying any move they can to get the economy back on track. The Dow Jones Industrial Average quickly jumped over 300 points after the announcement. That benchmark finished Tuesday's session up 359 points to 8,924.

The Fed's news stole the spotlight from other economic and corporate announcements. The Commerce Department announced housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 625,000 in November, a 47% decline from the same time period last year. However, the Department of Labor announced the core Consumer Price index was relatively flat last month. Goldman Sachs (GS) announced its first quarterly loss since becoming a public company nine years ago. And lurking in the shadows amidst all these revelations was the continuing effort to bang out a bailout plan for the nation's auto makers. It appears an aid package could be announced as soon as Wednesday.

Crude was flat ahead of an OPEC meeting later this week. There is speculation among traders, says Bloomberg, that any production cut won't be able to counter the impact a global recession is having on demand. Oil closed the day at the $44 level.

Winners

Financial stocks got a boost from the rate cut. The SPDR Select Financials ETF (XLF) jumped 10.2%. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Broker-Dealers fund (IAI) increased 9.3%.

Losers

It was a mediocre day for natural resources ETFs as traders waited to see what move OPEC would make later this week. The United States Oil fund (USO) dropped 1.2%.

Wednesday's Notebook

Could this be the day traders finally hear about a bailout plan for auto makers? Maybe.

Earnings & Conference Calls
ConAgra, General Mills, Joy Global, Lindsay, Luby's, Morgan Stanley, Nike, Take-Two Interactive Software

Economic Data
8:30 a.m. 3Q Current Account Balance

Quick Take

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