8:09 am - U.S. stocks pushed to newer bear market lows

By Geoffrey Rogow Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRESNEW YORK (Dow Jones)--U.S. stocks pushed to newer bear market lows as an expanded federal rescue of Citigroupand a dividend cut for General Electric hit even more of their share values and the broader market.In the last day of trading for February, traders did exactly what they had for most of the month, eitherselling out of or shorting large banking stocks. Pacing off the day's decline, Citigroup closed down96 cents, or 39%, at 1.50, after the U.S. Treasury Department said it is willing to convert up to $25billion of its preferred stock holdings into common stock in a move that would give the government a36% share of the giant bank.Over the last few weeks, concern that banks would need even more capital has damped share prices acrossthe sector. And those few traders willing to even play in banking stocks are mostly holding short positions.According to Data Explorers, a short-selling data research firm based in New York and London, 2.6% ofCitigroup is now out on loan, up nearly 38% from just less than two weeks ago."I don't plan on buying any banks anytime soon. That industry is going to zero, some winners, some losers,"said Keith Walter, a portfolio manager at Artio Global Investors.With the slide for banking stocks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 119.15 points, or 1.66%,at 7062.93, marking its lowest point since April of 1997 and surpassing its previous bear market lowof 7114.78, hit on Monday. The index lost 302.74 points, or 4.11%, for the week.The Dow, which dropped 12% this month, had its worst February since 1933. During the month, 20 of the30 components reset their 52-week lows, with 13 hitting 52-week lows at some point during Friday's session.Meanwhile, the broad Standard & Poor's 500 fell 17.74, or 2.36%, to 735.09, pushing to its lowest closesince Dec. 18, 1996. The S&P 500 lost 34.96 points, or 4.54%, for the week, and 90.79, or 10.99%, forthe month. Financial stocks in the index paced Friday's decline, losing more than 7%.The Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 13.63, or 0.98%, at 1377.84, though the index remains above itsNov. 20 closing low of 1316.12. For the week, the Nasdaq lost 63.39, or 4.4%, and for the month, it lost98.58, or 6.68%.Further damping the broad indexes, General Electric said its board is expected to slash the dividend to10 cents from 31 cents starting in the second-half of the year. The stock closed off 59 cents, or 6.5%,at 8.51.Investors were also given little to celebrate on the economic-data front as a revised report showed theU.S. economy slumped more deeply than previously thought in the fourth quarter. As the tone on banksand the economy continues to weaken, the government has moved aggressively with both the stimulus packagepassed this week and the latest backstop for Citigroup.Still, that the government has had to come in so aggressively, in itself has given many reason to further stay away from stocks."That the marginal buyer of assets in this country is the federal government is not a good indicationof how free the capital markets are," said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at BNY ConvergEx.(David Benoit contributed to this report.)You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.-0-Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

7:57 am - DJIA has broken new low !