Stocks Slip on Dell Earnings

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Goldman Sachs' (GS) stock was slightly lower Friday following a Wall Street Journal report some of its largest shareholders have asked the company to cut the size of its bonus pool and pass along more of its profits to investors. Although the shareholders are not pushing for a huge cut, they feel that Goldman should better reward shareholders for this year's rebound, the paper said.

Valero Energy (VLO) said it would permanently close its Delaware City refinery -- a major sign of the sinking profitability of the U.S. refining business, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The move comes as weak demand for gasoline and rising inventories, combined with relatively high oil prices, have crushed refiners' earnings. Furthermore, experts and industry executives say that gasoline demand will never see the peak it reached in 2007, as biofuels and increasing energy efficiency cut into demand.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, as part of a grilling on Capitol Hill Thursday, was asked by a Republican lawmaker to resign. It is a call he is likely to hear again and again as next year's election campaign heats up. Earlier in the week, a Republican challenger for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut had demanded Geithner quit, lambasting him for being "cozy" with banks bailed out by the federal government. Two other Republicans have requested hearings into Geithner's handling of the bailout of insurer American International Group Inc.

Federal Reserve officials are stepping up scrutiny of the biggest U.S. banks to ensure the lenders can withstand a reversal of soaring global-asset prices, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Supervisors are examining whether banks such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Goldman Sachs Group (GS) have enough capital for the risks they take, how much they know about the strength of their counterparties and whether risk managers have authority to influence bank practices and policies.

European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet said the ECB will remove liquidity in order to ensure the bank doesn't fuel inflation. "Not all our liquidity measures will be needed to the same extent as in the past," Trichet said at a conference in Frankfurt today. "Any non-standard measure whose continuation would pose a threat to the achievement of price stability must be undone promptly and unequivocally." Trichet has already signaled the ECB is unlikely to renew its offer of 12-month loans to banks after the third installment in December.

An official Chinese paper rejected calls for a Yuan appreciation. The People's Daily overseas edition said that U.S. pressure on China to raise the value of its currency amounts to Washington abdicating responsibility for ballooning deficits and would impede the global economic recovery. The article said it is Washington's attempt to distract attention and shirk responsibility and make other countries, including China pay the bill.

Andrews is managing editor of the Investing Channel for BusinessWeek.com .

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