wedding cake, groom runaway
Shelley Panzarella via Flickr
Stocks relinquished gains in the last hour after hawkish signs from the Federal Reserve.
But first, your scoreboard:
Dow: 12,461; +46 pts; +0.37%

S&P 500: 1,315; 0 pts; -0.01%

NASDAQ: 2,831; -14 pts; -0.48%

These were the day's top stories:

  • European stocks rallied across the board today, led by the Italian FTSE MIB which rose 0.88 percent. The euro rallied during the day, topping $1.26.


  • Janet Yellen, Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, told attendees at a Boston Economic Club dinner last night that "a highly accommodative monetary policy will be needed for quite some time to help the economy mend," fanning the flames of excitement over a new round of quantitative easing. 


  • Initial jobless claims narrowly beat expectations of 378K, falling to 377K last week. Older data was revised higher, however. 

  • Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified in front of the Senate today, affirming the Federal Reserve's readiness to act but taking a more hawkish stance on the likelihood of easing than investors had been expecting.


  • Financial sector sources cited by Reuters said that the IMF will probably assess shortfalls in the Spanish banking system at about €40 billion ($50 billion) in a report that will be published Monday. That report will be crucial to determining the extent of possible EU aid to Spain and its banks. 

  • Fitch Ratings slashed Spain's credit rating by three notches, from A to BBB, based on concerns about the likelihood of a bank bailout, deteriorating economic conditions, and a Spanish government that is increasingly unable to stem the tide of the crisis.

  • Consumer credit data for April missed expectations, expanding by $6.515 billion rather than the $11.0 billion analysts expected. Earlier estimates for credit growth were also revised way down, from a prior reading of $21.355 billion to a final reading of $12.368 billion for March.


  • The Federal Reserve's Dennis Lockhart marched back from earlier statements suggesting he supported new easing measures, telling Dow Jones, "I don't think conditions warrant them at the moment. 


  • Gold tumbled 2.7 percent after signs that the Fed might not ease monetary policy this month.