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The only good news was apparently at the pump. The price of oil fell Thursday to its lowest level in almost nine months
-- $78.20 a barrel. Gasoline was way down, too, at $3.47 a gallon, 46 cents below its peak in early April. Experts say it could dip to $3.30 by July 4th. The Philadelphia Fed index pushed Treasury prices up and yields down as traders shifted money into their favorite hiding spots. The yield on the 10-year note slipped to 1.61 percent, down from 1.63 percent late Wednesday. Material and energy companies, whose fortunes are closely tied to economic swings, led all 10 industry groups within the S&P 500 index lower. Just 12 of the 500 companies in the index rose. In Europe, auditors calculated that Spain's troubled banks need as much as (EURO)62 billion ($78.76 billion). A Bank of Spain official said that scenario was much less than the (EURO)100 billion that the 17 countries in the euro currency union said they would provide for Spain's banking sector. All day, speculation swirled that some major banks would have their credit ratings downgraded. After the market closed, Moody's Investors Service lowered the ratings of 15 the world's largest banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, saying their long-term prospects for profitability and growth were dimming. However, with interest rates already at rock-bottom levels, the downgrades may not affect the cost of funding for the banks that much. Among stocks making big moves: ConAgra Foods, a major food maker whose brands include Hebrew National and Chef Boyardee, gained 2.7 percent. The company's adjusted earnings and sales topped Wall Street's expectations. The stock climbed 66 cents to $25.26. Bed Bath & Beyond plunged 17 percent, the most in the S&P 500. The retailer said it expects weaker earnings in the current quarter than analysts expected even though it reported better profits after the market closed Wednesday. Bed Bath & Beyond stock lost $12.50 to $61.17. Red Hat slumped 6.2 percent. The largest provider of the Linux open-source operating system for computers reported weak figures for deferred revenue. Red Hat's stock dropped $3.50 to $53.
[Associated
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