Stocks erased losses in the final hour of trading Monday as investors purchased bank and consumer stocks in an effort to revive a three-month rally. The three major indexes had been lower throughout the session, but stocks turned higher on optimism about the banking sector. The 10 U.S. banks that were required to raise a combined $75 billion as a result of the government “stress tests” faced a deadline Monday to submit detailed plans. Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and PNC Financial are among the banks that already have met or exceeded requirements. Moreover, the government is expected to announce this week which banks are sufficiently capitalize to repay the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds they accepted last autumn. Light sweet crude oil for July delivery fell 35 cents to $68.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. dollar gained versus the euro and fell versus the yen. The Dow Jones industrial average was virtually unchanged, rising 1.36 to 8,764.49. Several consumer stocks rose, including Home Depot and Walt Disney. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.95, or 0.1 percent, to 939.14. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 7.02, or 0.4 percent, to 1,842.40. The New York Stock Exchange composite index fell 14.08 to 6,068.56. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 1.53 to 1,611.25. And the Russell 2000 index fell 5.57 to 524.79.
