WALL STREET P.M. 09.02.09:STOCKS FALL FOURTH DAY

DJIA: -29.93 CLOSE 9,280.67
S&P 500 -3.29 CLOSE 994.75
NASDAQ -1.82 CLOSE 1,967.07

MARKETWATCH: U.S. stocks on Wednesday finished lower for a fourth consecutive session, with financials hardest hit in a day of cautious trade in the countdown to Friday's much-anticipated monthly jobs report . . . READ MORE

ASSOCIATED PRESS: The stock market extended its slide as investors worried that a weak job market will trip up a recovery in the economy . . . The Dow Jones industrial average lost another 30 points after skidding 186 points Tuesday . . . READ MORE

FED OFFICIALS: SLOW RECOVERY,
ECONOMY REMAINS 'VULNERABLE'
BLOOMBERG: Federal Reserve officials in their August meeting discussed extending the end-date for purchases of mortgage bonds to minimize any market disruptions, and expressed concern about the pace of a likely economic recovery . . . "Most participants saw the economy as likely to recover only slowly during the second half of this year, and all saw it as still vulnerable to adverse shocks," the Fed said in today’s minutes. "Labor market conditions remained of particular concern to meeting participants" . . . READ MORE

CNN/MONEY: Fed members added that the chances of the economy getting worse are "now considerably reduced" but that the recovery is "likely to be damped." Those concerns are likely the biggest reason why the Fed left its key interest rate near 0% at the meeting and did not announce any move to pull back on the more than $1 trillion it has pumped into the economy over the last year through various lending programs . . . READ MORE

FDIC CHIEF BAIR WARNS ABOUT
'LOOMING PROBLEM' FOR BANKS
REUTERS: FDIC head Sheila Bair told CNBC Tuesday evening that commercial real estate loans remain a "looming problem" for banks' balance sheets and she expects the area to increasingly be a driver for bank failures during the remainder of this year and 2010. So far, this year 84 U.S. banks have failed, compared to 25 last year and only three in 2008 . . . READ MORE

$1 TRILLION 'TIME BOMB'
WALL STREET JOURNAL: U.S. banks are holding more than $1 trillion of mortgages backed by commercial property that is fast losing value. According to analysts at Deutsche Bank AG, as property value declines and scarce credit continue to drive commercial property developers and investors into default, total lifetime losses on banks' $1 trillion "core" commercial-mortgage holdings, or those backed by income-producing properties, would reach between 11.6% and 15.3%, or $115 billion and $150 billion . . . READ MORE

GOLD PRICE HITS 3-MONTH HIGH
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Gold companies' shares soared Wednesday amid a sharp rally in gold prices . . . Gold prices reached their highest point in nearly three months as the U.S. dollar weakened and participants bought in a flight-to-quality bid based on economic uncertainty and concerns about the stock market . . . READ MORE

REUTERS: Dollar weakness also made gold more attractive to non-U.S. investors, traders said, while the move through pivotal technical resistance levels triggered heavy buying. "In the mid to long term, gold is definitely a buy -- especially if you have lost trust in stocks, or expect a down-move there," Commerzbank senior trader Michael Kempinski said . . . READ MORE

WATCHDOG: SEC MISSED
'RED FLAGS' ON MADOFF
NEW YORK TIMES: The Securities and Exchange Commission repeatedly missed chances, because of inexperience and incompetence, to head off the huge investment fraud carried out for years by the disgraced money manager, Bernard L. Madoff . . . In a damning report on the S.E.C.’s performance, the agency’s inspector general, H. David Kotz, said numerous “red flags” had been missed by the agency, including some warnings sounded by journalists, well before Mr. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme imploded in 2008 . . . READ MORE

BP FINDS OIL DEEP IN GULF
CNN/MONEY: BP has drilled one of the deepest oil reservoirs ever discovered, the company said Wednesday. The Tiber well, located about 250 miles southeast of Houston in the Gulf of Mexico, was drilled about 35,055 feet deep . . . READ MORE

CAP-AND-TRADE WOULD COST
UP TO $600 BILLION A YEAR
NEW YORK TIMES: It will cost between $500 billion and $600 billion every year for the next 10 years to allow developing nations to grow using renewable energy resources, instead of relying on dirty fuels that worsen global warming, according to a United Nations report . . . READ MORE