Tuesday

Today, most stocks declined after a strong Treasury auction showed there is still a healthy appetite for safer investments. However, the Dow rose as some of its more expensive components, like IBM, gained. Long-term Treasury futures reached their highest prices of the day following the auction of a record $44 billion in two-year notes, which saw a big-to-cover ration of 3.63, which is much stronger than previous auctions. The dollar was boosted because foreign participation in the auction was solid as well. While third-quarter earnings reports have largely beat Wall Street expectations, some investors are skittish after the Dow lost more than 100 points in each of the last two sessions. DJIA +14.21 S&P -3.54 NASDAQ -25.76