Dow Falls During Choppy Trading: Acadiana Business Index

Wall Street ends in choppy trading as the Dow falls 41 points. Mark Lasseigne has more on today's Acadiana Business Index. 

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 41 points to 11,478.

• The financial sector led U.S. stocks lower following less-than-stellar results from J.P. Morgan Chase.  Shares fell 4.8% to $31.60.

• Other bank stocks also slumped. Bank of America Corp. dropped 5.5%, while Citigroup lost 5.3% and Morgan Stanley shed 4.4%.

• After hours, Google reported better that expected earnings, pushing futures markets higher, along with the stock.

• The Labor Department reported 404,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week.  Additionally, the U.S. trade deficit with China hit a record in August, even as the overall trade gap barely budged.

• Research In Motion said it has fully restored service to its global network. But one analyst said the outages could cost the company about $183 million in sales. RIMM down 1.3% to $23.61

• The U.S. has decided to allow BP to bid on new oil-drilling leases that go up for sale in the Gulf of Mexico on Dec. 14 in New Orleans.  The upcoming lease sale will be the first auction since the Deepwater Horizon spill.

• Oil prices were lower after the government said oil inventories unexpectedly rose last week.  Crude oil closed at $84.63 a barrel.

• And Gold settled at $1,667 an ounce.