US markets finish lower
CNBC’s Julia Boorstin – Stocks trading in negative territory on Wall Street, with all the major averages finishing lower. The Dow finishing 138 points down, the Nasdaq drops 28 points and S&P 500 fall 17 points
President Obama is out with a major report on the economy, he says the credit crunch has eased slightly, some schools and credit departments have cancelled layoffs and there are some improvements in home sales, thanks to his economic policies. But he warned that recession isn’t over and there is more difficulty ahead for 2009.
More sings that it might a little longer for the US economy to recover than – hoped. Retail sales fell in March by more than 1%. Wall Street had been expecting a slight increase in sales but weakness from Auto and clothing retailers pushed the number lower. Retail sales might have been down but it wasn’t because of higher prices.