Street Watches Hill; Stocks Fall

Stocks traded sharply lower at the end of today’s roller-coaster session as investors watched lawmakers balk at quickly enacting the financial bailout plan, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dow fell 161.52 to close at 10,854.17. The Nasdaq lost 25.64, closing at 2,153.34, and the S&P 500 shed 18.87, settling at 1,188.22.

Traders remain nervous that dissatisfied congressmen will stall passage of the bailout. Oil lost $2.76 but remained sharply higher for the week after yesterday’s record surge. US home prices declined by 0.6% in July, leading to losses for builders like Lennar Corp, which lost 7.7%. On the Dow, American Express bucked the trend for financials with a 2.65% gain. (More Dow Jones stories.)