Stocks Lower as Bernanke Offers No Hints on Further Monetary Easing

Stocks have slipped in early trading today after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered no hints on further monetary easing from the central bank.

Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke said that economic uncertainty is increasing primarily due to the euro zone debt crisis and the looming “Fiscal Cliff” in the U.S. However, the Fed Chairman did not offer any clues on further monetary easing.

At last check, the Dow Jones was trading 0.11% lower at 12,713.32, the S&P 500 was trading 0.10% lower at 1,352.32, and the Nasdaq was trading 0.17% lower at 2,891.93.

Consumer Cyclical sector is leading the losses in the S&P 500 in early trading today. At last check, the sector was down 0.54%. Transportation sector is currently trading 0.53% lower. Technology sector is down 0.38% in early trading. Consumer Non-Cyclical sector has been the best performer in the S&P 500 in early trading. At last check, the sector was up 0.26% higher.

Among the major gainers and losers in early trading today are Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), which is currently trading 0.24% lower at $15.61, Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD), which is currently trading 0.52% higher at $52.21, State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), which is currently trading 5.14% lower at $41.87, Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), which is currently trading 9.12% higher at $33.87, and VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS), which is currently trading 7.54% lower at $26.54.

On the economic front, a Labor Department report showed that consumer prices were flat in June as expected. Core consumer prices rose 0.2% in June. Meanwhile, a report from the Federal Reserve showed that industrial production rose 0.4% in June, while capacity utilization was 78.8%. Economists surveyed by Reuters were expecting industrial production to rise 0.3% in June, while capacity utilization to show a reading of 79.2%.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.