The government revised its annual growth rate from 2.4 percent to 2.2 percent in the summer, saying the gross domestic product was even weaker than previously believed as the trade deficit deteriorated further. Until the Federal Reserve lowers rates, investors are expected to continue to dump companies whose profit outlooks are weak. Investors, who are weary of trading on fears about earnings and the economy, want a sustainable rally but can't commit to setting one off yet, analysts said. Emotionally, investors are ready to do that. All eyes are on the Fed.
Traders say the mood of the market is highly fragile.
At the beginning of this year, when the economy was still booming, it looked like nothing could stop stocks from going up. But the one thing about going down, they can't go lower than zero. And we're a lot closer to zero than we were 12 months ago. Earnings warnings early Thursday from Lucent Technologies and Xerox sent those shares downward but had little effect on the overall market, analysts said. Anchor Dan Rather's interview with Treasury Department official Lawrence Summers.