Fed cuts rates, signals pause; mortgage applications hit 4-year low

CBS

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Wall Street is struggling to stay positive as the economy weakens the Dow rallied Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut short-term interest rates a quarter of a point but the selling began after the FED signaled it's done cutting for now in the end the Dow finished down about 12 points the NASDAQ lost 13 today investors will get earnings news from companies including Exxon Mobile and Burger King along with economic reports on personal income and spending as well as construction spend spending the housing market continues to suffer applications for home mortgages this week slumped 11% to the lowest level since December pulled down by a big drop in refinancings economists say falling home values are keeping wouldbe buyers out of the market food prices however are expected to continue to rise experts predict farmers will not be able to catch up to Growing Global demand for food until 2010 and Starbucks continues to struggle As Americans cut back on the exas the coffee chain lowered its profit forecast after its quarterly income fell 28% from a year ago it will try to lure back customers with a new line of healthier products including fruit smoothies and that's your money watch be sure to click on cbsnews.com for the latest business headlines at the New York Stock Exchange I'm Alexis christopherus

GM sales sink 16%, Ford down 12%; Exxon nets $11B

CBS

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American drivers are going small they're trading in those gas guzzling trucks and SUVs for more fuele efficient vehicles and that's hurting American automakers GM sales slid 16% last month Ford posted a 12% drop Japanese automaker Toyota is the big winner April sales There Rose more than 3% on strong demand for its fuel efficient hybrid Prius and Camry models Exxon Mobile made a staggering 11 billion in the first 3 months of the year as crude oil continued its record run even so the world's largest publicly traded Oil Company missed wall Street's lofty profit expectations on Wall Street stocks gained ground one day after the FED cut interest rates by a quarter point and hinted that may be all for now the Dow rallied 190 points the NASDAQ Composite raced ahead nearly 68 the housing slump has Home Depot closing some stores for the first time in its history the Home Improvement retailer will shut 15 stores Nation wide for underperforming when the stores close over the next few months 1,300 workers will lose their jobs and a movie War is brewing online Apple has Inked a deal with several movie studios to sell new releases at its iTunes store that's likely to put pressure on Rivals Amazon and Microsoft to offer similar services and that's your money watch log on to cbsnews.com for more business headlines in New York I'm Alexis christopherus