Stock Market Strong Despite Bank Struggles

For the fourth straight day, the stock market finished the day in the positive. However, compared to the previous three days, Tuesday’s gains were minimal.

While strong news from the national housing industry helped some stocks, a number of financial institutions saw their stock prices drop substantially. For example, Goldman Sachs fell $1.20, American Express dropped nearly $1.30 and JP Morgan was down by more than $1.60.

Tuesday wasn't a great day for American Express (Image: Flickr)

Overall, the stock indexes showed that the market moved in the right direction. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.2% to finish Tuesday at 8.740.9. The S&P’s 500 was also up 0.2%, while the Nasdaq index was up 0.4%. The major index with the biggest gain was the Russell 2000, which was up a full percentage point.

If the stock market can continue rising, all of the Dow Jones’ losses in 2009 will soon be recovered. As it is, the Dow Jones is down less than 40 points in 2009 after the last three months of gains.