ARTICLES MODERN

The first full week of trading in 2009 started with a wobble on Wall Street, then a slide.
Stock finished lower on the markets Monday, ending three sessions of gains, as car companies posted double-digit sales declines for December and the price of oil rose.
The Dow Jones industrial average dipped below 9,000 to close at 8952.89, with 81.80 points, or 0.91 percent. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of stocks fell 4.35 points, or 0.47 percent, to 927.45, while the Nasdaq composite index lost 4.18 points, or 0.26 percent, to 1628.03.
Even with months of losses, the markets have been making incremental gains over the last month, adding to investors’ hopes that Wall Street could be turning a corner, even if the recession continues to drag on.
While the S. & P. 500 rose 25 percent from lows in November, analysts said financial markets were likely to remain volatile as investors waited for more details on a package of economic incentives whose price tag could approach 1 billion dollars.
“It’s another year, but the same problems,” said Stuart Schweitzer, global markets strategist at JP Morgan Private Bank. “What is nagging at people is a risk that this could be just another bear market Rally is full of history and exactly such models on the market goes up and getting knocked back.”
Shares of Ford and General Motors ended higher after the Big Three automakers have announced the worst in total sales of nearly 50 years. While the figures were bleak, analysts were even worse bracing for reports. Ford shares rose 12 cents to 2.58 dollars, while GM gained 6 cents to $ 3.71.

Ford said its sales sank to 32 percent in December, while GM reported a decrease of 31 percent. Chrysler said its sales plummeted 53 percent last month. Toyota and Honda reported that sales in the United States fell by more than 30 percent.

Apple shares rose more than 4 percent, or $ 3.83, to 94.58 dollars, after Steven P. Jobs, the creator of computer chief executive, released a letter addressing the concerns of its health care have persisted because he decided not to make a Keynote to the annual Macworld Conference this week.

Mr. Jobs said a hormonal imbalance was “robbed” the body’s protein is necessary, but he said he has begun treatment and will remain at Apple’s helm.

Despite the slump in housing and restricted credit for construction loans, construction spending in November was stronger than economists had expected. Spending fell by 0.6 percent, less than expected a 1.3 percent decrease, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

Overall spending was shot down by a 4 percent decrease in spending on home construction, but nonresidential construction rose 1 percent in October.

“This is just a matter of time, however, because the lead time for construction projects is long and the credit crunch has not had the time to be felt in full,” January Shepherdson, chief economist of State United High Frequency Economics, wrote in a note. Sooner or later, he said, nonresidential construction will fall very sharply indeed. ”

Crude oil prices extended their Rally, up $ 2.47, to settle at 48.81 U.S. dollars a barrel in New York Mercantile Exchange trading.

Although oil prices are still down sharply from the July peak of more than $ 145 a barrel, they have increased nearly 20 percent over the past week, from $ 40 a barrel last month, as russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine and new fighting in Gaza in suspension Middle East.

The price of long-term debt, which spiked in November and December, as investors fled from risky investments, fell on Monday.

Yields on 10 - and 30-year Treasuries have rebounded from record lows and worries about the great new issues of corporate governance and debt.

On average 30 years of treasury bonds, which increases the price decreases, increased from 3 percent for the first time since mid-December.

“We were at all levels while the yield fell, and once the land acquisition, there was no one there to protect the market,” said Tom di Galoma, head of Treasury trading at the company and Jefferies. “I think no big worry about the supply coming.”

Treasury reference, the 10-year note fell 1 1 / 32 at 111 1 / 32. Yield, which moves in the opposite direction from price, was at 2.48 percent, up from 2.37 percent late Friday.

Asian markets started the day higher on Tuesday after gaining ground on Monday. Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1 percent in early trading on Tuesday in Tokyo