H-P Helps Transform Blue Chips Into Red
A drop in Hewlett-Packard was enough to drag the Dow industrials into the red, while other indexes squeaked out a third straight session of gains.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 7.45 points, or 0.1%, to 12788.51. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 0.92 point, or 0.1%, to 1387.81, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.61 point, to 2916.68.</br></br>Hewlett-Packard contributed a 12.21-point drag on the blue-chip index. Shares plunged $1.59, or 12%, to a 10-year low of $11.71, after the technology company was hit by an $8.8 billion write-down tied to the acquisition of software developer Autonomy last year. H-P alleged there were "serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations" at Autonomy before its acquisition. Mike Lynch, Autonomy's CEO at the time, denied any irregularities.</br></br>"This report isn't just disappointing, they're saying they were fleeced," said Mark Lehmann, president of JMP Securities. "They have some issues outside of this they need to work on, so this doesn't help."</br></br>Meanwhile, remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pushed stocks to session lows after he warned about the economic consequences that would occur if Congress fails to reach a budget deal. He said the central bank doesn't have "infinite" ability to ameliorate a recession if the cuts are too sharp. Stocks later largely recovered from the midafternoon declines.