Gold 
Credit Fears and Oil Prices Set Tone on Wall St
“US stocks moved lower on Monday as worries about the credit crisis and higher oil prices continued to play on the minds of investors.
In early New York trade, the S&P 500 index was down 0.7 per cent at 1,283.07 while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.7 per cent lower at 2,397.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.7 per cent lower at 11,545.67.
US stocks ended last week lower as investors continued to fret about the health of the financial sector, particularly mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and investment bank Lehman Brothers, and responded to a mixed set of earnings news and economic data.
Shares in Fannie were up 2 per cent at $5.10 and Freddie shares were 6.4 per cent higher at $2.98 in early trade. Lehman shares were 4.9 per cent lower at $13.76.
Stocks staged a rally on Friday after a speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and a fall in oil prices, but remained in negative territory for the week.
The S&P 500 index ended last week down 0.5 per cent at 1,292.19 and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.5 per cent lower at 2,414.71. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.3 per cent lower at 11,627.49.
Investors have their attention focused on crude prices, which have been extremely volatile in recent weeks.”
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