Managed to post gains

Stocks ended the day barely in positive territory, after falling on fears over the health of European banks and worse-than-expected readings on the housing market. Late in the session, the Justice Department announced a $335 million settlement with Bank of America over alleged discriminatory lending practices by its Countrywide Financial unit. Also, Yahoo’s 5.8% surge supported the broader market after the media report that Yahoo was discussing a plan to cut its stake in Alibaba Group to about 15% from 40% as part of a tax-free transaction valued at between $17 billion and $18 billion. Tech sector trimmed some of the day’s losses, but closed lower after most software stocks dropped dramatically following Oracle’s surprisingly weak quarterly earnings. After the close of European markets, Standard & Poors’ lowered its rating on Hungary to BB+/B and put it on a negative outlook. In the evening trade Micron was 1.6% off as the co.’s per-share loss was wider than anticipated. Implied volatility inched lower on modest trading volumes.