Stocks Move Lower as Traders Grow Cautious

Wall Street continues to waver.

The major indexes were higher Wednesday morning but sold off in the afternoon as an early rally fizzled. The release of the minutes from the last policy meeting of the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee, energy, earnings and a new credit card bill combined for a choppy trading session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 52 points at 8422. The Nasdaq slipped 6 to 1727, and the S&P 500 decreased 4 to 903.

Energy stocks helped keep the broader market afloat, as oil prices crept up on a decline in crude inventories and a falling dollar. Oil traded up $1.75 at $61.85 a barrel.

In tech, Hewlett Packard (HPQ) took a step back, as traders frowned on a weak sales outlook and a fresh round of layoffs.

In finance, the White House is considering a plan to install a new regulatory group to shield consumers from wayward financial products, like mortgages they cannot pay and credit cards they should not have, the Associated Press reported, citing an anonymous source. The new body risks stepping on the toes of pre-existing agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Treasury Department.

The White House also introduced its Economic Recovery Advisory Board, a diverse collection of economic gurus. It held a meeting Wednesday to discuss job creation and energy policy.

The Federal Reserve released the minutes of the last meeting of its Federal Open Market Committee, the body that sets interest rates. Some officials are open to raising the amounts of mortgage and Treasury securities purchases to beyond the $1.75 trillion they have already committed to buying, says Dow Jones. The same officials also commented the recession could be deeper than expected just three months ago and any subsequent recovery may be sluggish instead of clean and swift. The committee expects the economy to improve in the coming months, but it also downgraded its outlook for 2009. 

Congress stepped in as a consumer advocate on Tuesday, when the Senate passed a bill offering consumers new protection from credit card companies and the opportunity to reestablish good credit more quickly should they miss a payment. The House approved the measure Wednesday. Now it heads to the White House for President Obama's signature. Credit card companies fell in value on the news. 

The dollar tumbled against major currencies, touching a new low against the pound and a 4-month low against the euro, according to the Associated Press. The apparent resolution of the financial crisis has made investors more comfortable with riskier overseas positions, says the AP.

World markets were fairly flat. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei finished up 0.6%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.4%. In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE dropped 0.3%.