Oil Up, Dollar Down, Stocks Stall

Rising commodities prices partially offset bad news about manufacturing activity, the plunging dollar, and record crude oil prices to create a plateau on Wall Street today. The Dow ended down 7.49 at 12,258.90, the Nasdaq down 12.88 at 2,258.60, and the S&P 500 barely up, 0.71 to 1331.34. "There's not a single stitch of good news out there," an asset manager told Reuters.

Gold futures traded up today, reports the Wall Street Journal. "In addition to the fundamental factors we've been talking about for days and weeks, we're seeing a huge technical run into these markets," says a market adviser. But things could be worse: Energy and materials stocks are staving off freefall. "We have a bifurcated market here," said one trader. (More crude oil stories.)