Debt problems weighing on stocks

NEW YORK - disorders technology company and renewed Europe debt concerns dragged stocks lower for a second day.

Finance Ministers European approved 110 billion in loans Monday Portugal rescue, but have not yet decided on a second rescue of the Greece plan.

The arrest of the head of the Monetary Fund International should resolve more difficult problems of the Greece. The official, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, had been very involved in an attempt to resolve debt crises in the Portugal and Greece. He is detained without bail on charges of sexually assaulting an employee of the hotel in the city of New York.

Technology companies suffered major losses in trade Monday. Yahoo! Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. has fallen by more than 4%. Yahoo is in dispute with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in its online payment activities. Yahoo holds a 40% interest in the company, which has transferred its business to another company online payment without Yahoo.

Investors are increasingly concerned about the prospect of a U.S. default on its debt unprecedented. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner told legislators of the Congress, in a letter Monday that the Agency takes action to postpone a default value.

"The main thing suspended above of most financial markets right now, this is what will happen with the debt ceiling and the Government of borrowing and spending, stated Tim Courtney, the investment officer head the Advisory Group of Burns in Oklahoma City."

The Dow Jones index lost 47.38 points, or 0.4%, to close at 12,548.37. The standard & poor 500 index has dropped from 8.30 points, or 0.6%, to 1,329.47. The Nasdaq fell 46.15 or 1.6%, to 2,782.31.

Raw material prices were mostly lower. Fell in the price of oil $2.28 to settle at US $97.37 per barrel Monday as worries eased that raw of the Mississippi River could disrupt refineries and slow demand.

Commodities have fallen heavily over the past two weeks because of concerns that the global economy shows signs of weakening. A series of margin-walks that were intended to limit the influence of speculators, including heavy sent commercial products such as the silver more than 11 per cent for the year also sent commodities lower.

"People return markets products because they believe that, at the back of their minds, the history of the world's growth will continue," said Zahid Siddique, a portfolio manager associated with Gabelli equity Trust, a manager of Fund based in New York.

Stock market lost some of its momentum in recent weeks after completing its best first quarter since 1998. Companies considered defensive industries such as health care, utilities and consumers have exceeded lately due in part to concerns that high gas prices will slow the economy and cut in the profits of the business.

Two well known retailers in the United States fell after reporting results quarterly Monday. Company home renovation that COS. Lowe fell 2 percent in after that his quarterly report missed Wall Street estimates and the company cut its Outlook for the year. Bad weather and a decrease in consumer spending combined to drive its profit fell by 6% in the first quarter.

J.C. Penny Co. Inc. has lost 1.5% despite raising them its full year profit estimates.

One of trafficking more than Wall Street was officially dismissed as. The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange fell nearly 11 percent after only competing ice and Nasdaq OMX Group announced that they had withdrawn their hostile bid for the company. NYSE Euronext had irritated its shareholders by refusing to meet with the two companies, which offer a higher price than what NYSE received an operator German exchange. The withdrawn offer clears an obstacle to the proposed NYSE and his German counterpart combination.

More than two titles fell for all those which have increased in the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was $ 3.5 billion shares.

BofA mortgage problems through: CEO

CHARLOTTE, Carolina North  - Bank of America Corp. (BAC).(N) is working to improve profits by reducing its number of problem mortgages and by cutting other expenditures, Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said shareholders Wednesday.

Moynihan, speaking at the annual meeting of the company, in downtown Charlotte said mortgage lending of the largest U.S. Bank by assets is "still from wrong powerfully" as it slowly ramp under billion in mortgage loans bitter.

"There is still much work to come to pass through it," Moynihan said shareholders.

At the meeting, shareholders elected all candidates of 13 Director on the Board of Directors. No shareholder proposal has gained sufficient support to pass, including one by the controller of the city of New York seeking a review of the practices of the BofA foreclosure.

Annual meeting of the Bank - in which the shareholders asked some contentious issues, particularly on mortgage of the company operations - was the slugfests between shareholders and management in recent years.

The meeting was held in a smaller auditorium that seats approximately 450 in a downtown Charlotte office tower adjacent to the headquarters of the company.

Unlike the two previous annual meetings since the financial crisis of 2008, seats empty throughout the auditorium, and investors began to leave before the conclusion of the meeting.

Two years earlier, blown shareholders for the purchase of Merrill Lynch and management performance of time-CEO Kenneth Lewis. Since then, the company brought in almost a whole new Council and changed much of its management team.

During the almost three-hour meeting of this year, the shareholders were as free Executive Moynihan and the BofA as they were critical.

"You were able to perform an impossible task," said Jim Connelly, shareholder of the Bank, which then must Barbara Desoer, mortgage of the Bank of America Chief, based in Washington, D.C. for his work with the problems of mortgage loans of the Bank.

Moynihan, in his remarks prepared for the shareholders, describes the Bank as a tale of two companies.

Most of the Bank is beginning to return to normal, as the Bank strives to build "more uniform and predictable statements."

But the BofA mortgage woes that are crimping of earnings will not the overnight disappear, he said.

"Its obvious that we have to get the mortgage crisis behind us," said.

Two primary risks to the business of Mortgage Corporation are regulatory requirements and the potential cost of the main impairment losses, he said.

Moynihan, who replaced Lewis as CEO in January 2010, initially produced a string of profits of the Bank. But bad mortgages held Bank of America of the levels of profitability that some competitors have been reported in recent quarters.

In the second half of 2010, the loss of Bank of America came surprised some investors. While significant non-cash charges weighed on the bottom line of the Bank, its mortgage lending activity also hindered base results.

Bank of America reported a profit in the first quarter of 2 billion dollars, earnings missed analyst expectations and below the year earlier profit of the Bank of $ 3.2 billion.

As BofA works to combat the problems of the legacy of loan, find new business was difficult as well. Its income and loan portfolio continued to shrink in recent quarters as the United States economic recovery has slowed.

Investors are afraid that the Bank could be on the hook for billions more bitter mortgage held by foreign investors, and that its foreclosure problems show no sign of abating.

Business real estate loans from Bank of America lost 2.39 billion in the first quarter only.

BofA was also one of the few banks which proposed dividend increase was rejected by the Federal Reserve this year, after a second of stress tests. The Corporation paid only 1 cent per share quarterly.

The meeting of Wednesday, Moynihan reiterated his assertion that BofA is going to pay a higher dividend as soon as it receives regulatory approval and redemptions of shares are a "priority".

Counsel General Edward O'Keefe also said that the Bank paid the legal costs, with a value of $ 1.4 billion last year.

Moynihan said Bank of America must decide how a dispute of redemption of mortgage loan will be "damages you on the other side" when considering a settlement. Comment of the Moynihan was softer than the tone of his remarks last year, when he said that the Bank would engage in "hand-to-hand combat" in the battles of redemption.

BofA shares remained unchanged at $12.28 Wednesday afternoon trade.