Stocks End Mixed on Economic Worries

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8 billion invested as of early August, had lost 38.59% of its value year-to-date as of Sept. 2.

The fund closing, announced by the firm's founder Dwight Anderson in a letter to investors on Tuesday, could spell more bad news for Lehman Brothers Holdings (LEH) , which has owned a 20% stake in the hedge fund manager since 2005.

Despite worries that the strength in the dollar will end up hurting U.S. exports, Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, said in a research note that he believes "U.S. companies will continue to expand their overseas sales even if overall global economic growth continues to slow." He cited 15 countries for U.S. exports, most of which are holding up, while the U.K. and Germany seem to be the most troubled currently. The Institute for Supply Management's Exports Index showed ongoing growth in exports, while the ISM's Imports Index revealed a seventh consecutive month of contraction in U.S. imports, he said.

Among stocks moving Wednesday, the Coca-Cola Co. (KO) said it has offered to buy China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd., a Hong Kong listed company that owns the Huiyuan juice business throughout China, for $2.4 billion. The purchase, which is subject to preconditions relating to Chinese regulatory approvals, is expected to reduce Coca-Cola's earnings by three to four cents a share in the first full year after completion of the deal, and would boost profitability in the third year after completion. Standard & Poor's maintained its strong buy rating on the stock.

On the economic data front, July factory orders unexpectedly rose 1.3%, above the median estimate of a 0.4% gain and after an upward-revised 2.1% increase in June. Excluding transportation, factory orders were up 1.0% in July.

The U.S. factory data continue to defy recession fears, as the support from the booming commodity-sensitive and aerospace industries is offsetting weakness in other sectors, such as autos, Action Economics said.

U.S. vehicle sales rebounded by a stronger-than-expected 9% to 13.6 million in August from the 16-year lows seen in July, instead of the forecast bounce to 13 million. Ford Motor Co.'s (F) disappointing 26% sales decline from a year ago was more than made up by stronger than expected results at General Motors (GM), Nissan, and Honda. Auto sales have fallen rapidly from around 16 million units in the five months ending in December and the 2008 sales rate now looks to be under 14 million units, Action Economics said.

The Mortgage Bankers Association released its weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending Aug. 29, showing a 7.5% increase in the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, on a seasonally adjusted basis. On an unadjusted basis, the Index rose 5.8% from the prior week and was down 27% from a year ago. The Refinance Index increased 2.1% percent and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 10.5% from one week earlier.

Oil prices bounced back nearly all the way from earlier lower, paring losses as the dollar came off highs, though it was still trading higher. While estimates of hurricane damage to energy installations in the Gulf of Mexico are minimal, production had been shut down completely and will be slow to return to normal. There's also an element of technical chart weakness dogging oil prices after the breech of the 200-day moving average on Tuesday for the first time since May, 2007.

Crude oil for October delivery settled 36 cents lower at $109.35 a barrel.

Among other stocks in the news on Wednesday, First Horizon National Corp. (Previous Page Page 1 2 3 Next Page