The Conference infers Steve Martin Board’s index steve marting defines of consumer confidence fell this month to its lowest level in two years. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 77. 79 points, or 0. 6%, to 13,792. 47, and the S&P 500 index fell 9. 96 points, or 0. 6%, to 1,531. 02. The tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index edged down 0. 73 of a point to 2,816. 71. The Russell 2,000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 5. 57 points, or 0. 7%, to 816. 15. The Nasdaq was helped by continuing strength in such bellwethers as Apple, Microsoft and Google. Apple rose $1. 91, or 1%, to $187; Microsoft climbed $1, or 2. 9%, to $35. 57; and Google advanced $15. 54, or 2. 3%, to $694. 77. Oil futures retreated $3. 15 to $90. 38 a barrel in New York, after hitting a record Monday above $93 a barrel. Gold prices also fell, pulling November gold futures down $5. 10 to $784. 30 an ounce. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies. Treasury yields moved little. The 10-year Treasury note finished at 4. 38%, unchanged from late Monday. Disappointing reports from Procter & Gamble and Qwest Communications International and a management shake-up at Merrill Lynch gave little reason to buy before the Fed’s decision. Merrill Lynch’s chairman and chief executive, Stan O’Neal, stepped down Tuesday as expected after the brokerage last week posted the biggest quarterly loss in its 93-year history.

But no replacement was named aside from an interim nonexecutive chairman steve martin movie . Merrill Lynch shares fell $1. 86, or 2. 8%, to $65. Steve Martin tickets 56. Procter & Gamble was the biggest loser among the 30 Dow components after warning that higher commodity costs would squeeze profit margins steve martain . P&G fell $2. 88, or 4%, to $68. 95. Although Qwest reported a third-quarter profit jump, its shares tumbled $1. 12, or 14%, to $7. 06 after the telecommunications company declined to give details about its outlook. In other market highlights:* Shares of raw-material producers in the S&P 500 lost 2. 2% as a group after metal prices retreated pleasure of my company . Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, the world’s second-largest producer of copper, slipped $3. 85 to $114. 01 steve martin la grande . Newmont Mining, the world’s second-biggest gold miner, fell $1. 23 to $46. 44. DryShips, which owns and operates ships that carry commodities, plummeted $22. 97, or 18%, to $108.

Chinese steel producers are reportedly taking a hard line in negotiations on what they’ll pay in 2008 for Australian iron ore, which could slow shipments of the ore. * United States Steel slid $7. 88, or 7%, to $104. 62 after reporting lower third-quarter profit, citing lower prices and shipments and higher raw material and acquisition costs. Other steel stocks also sank steve martin film . Nucor slumped $2. 43, or 3. 8%, to $61. 12; ArcelorMittal fell $4. 52, or 5. 4%, to $79. 36; L. A. -based Reliance Steel lost $1. 22, or 2. 1%, to $57 Steve Martin . 82; and AK Steel Holding dropped $2. 68, or 5. 1%, to $49. 82. * R. R Donnelley & Sons added $2. 39, or 6. 4%, to $39. 90 the pleasure of my company . The printer posted a 6. 3% rise in third-quarter profit and raised its full-year forecast. * Pitney Bowes slumped $7. 06 to $39. 93 man with two brains . The mail equipment maker’s third-quarter profit and sales fell short of expectations, and the company said fourth-quarter profit would disappoint as well Steve Martin – stevemartin . * Avon Products climbed $1. 70 to $40. 77 steve martin grand ole opry . Third-quarter profit for the direct seller of beauty products jumped 61% Steve Martin – imdb . * Overseas, key stock indexes fell 0. 3% in Japan, 0. 7% in Britain, 0. 4% in Germany and 0. 6% in France Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0. 2%. . Joey Chestnut of San Jose — the top-ranked American according to the International Federation of Competitive Eating — will be among the contestants at a gyoza-eating event on Saturday at the Japanese American Community and Cultural Center in downtown Los Angeles. It’s part of the nine-day Japanese Festival, which got underway this weekend. Chestnut has eaten 62 hamburgers in eight minutes, 173 chicken wings in 30 minutes, 52 hot dogs in 12 minutes and more than six pounds of asparagus in 11 1/2 minutes.