Economy

After rallying for most of Monday, U.S. stocks fell following a downgrade of Greece's credit rating amid concerns over debt-riddled European Union countries. 

The Dow Jones industrials were off 20.18 points — 0.2 percent — to 10,190.89 after gaining 118 points before Moody's Investors Service downgraded Greece's credit rating by four notches to junk status today. 

BP stock continued its fall, dropping 9.7 percent to $30.67 as President Barack Obama and congressional lawmakers put pressure on the company to set up an escrow account to deal with the damaging effects of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday objected to a short-term extension of expiring provisions offered by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) because the proposal's cost was offset by rescinding some of the provisions in the stimulus bill. 

"It's a good program," Reid said of the stimulus bill. "It creates jobs." 

Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) on Monday said he supports the creation of an escrow account by BP to pay for damages caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The senator put forward a similar idea more than a month ago.  

"I think it's a good idea," he told MSNBC's Morning Joe. "I actually sent a letter to BP on May 11th asking for something very similar."

LeMieux in May sent a letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward asking him to set up an account that would pay claims against the company for the oil spill. 

Sen. Harry Reid and other Democrats formally urged BP to set up a $20 billion escrow account with an independent trustee for spill damages.

President Barack Obama's push for $50 billion in new spending is focused mainly on money to help state healthcare funds and to prevent teacher layoffs.

Obama, in a Saturday night letter to congressional leaders, urged lawmakers to quickly extend tax cuts and pass the new spending provisions. Obama said that without additional fiscal steps the economy could "slide backwards."

Obama is urging Congress to support $23 billion to help prevent teacher layoffs, $25 billion for state healthcare aid and $2 billion for cops and firefighters.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) suggested Sunday that the administration should look to the 2009 stimulus package and see if unspent money could be redirected to the new priorities.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) wants the White House to look at unspent money from the 2009 stimulus package instead of asking Congress for a new fiscal package.

President Barack Obama on Saturday night wrote to congressional leaders urging them to pass legislation extending tax cuts and add new spending to prevent "hundreds of thousands" teacher layoffs, among other cuts. Obama said that without such measures the economy could "slide backwards."

Hoyer said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that there is "spending fatigue" across the country and that he is encouraging the administration to look at last year's $787 billion stimulus package to see if some money can be redirected.

"I have asked the White House to look at the package we already passed," Hoyer said. "I personally believe if we have dollars not yet expended in the recovery act we could apply to this immediate need."

Centrist Democrats in recent weeks have been more vocal about their concerns that new spending would lead to higher deficits and debt.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said: "To move without finding other offsets is irresponsible."

China said Saturday congressional legislation to punish the country as a currency manipulator was against international trade rules.

Bipartisan legislation that is championed by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) would give the U.S. government greater power to punish China for for not allowing its currency to fluctuate. Chinese officials argued the legislation is against World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

"It is against facts and lacks support from WTO rules," a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman said Saturday, according to Reuters. 

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has criticized China's currency policies, but the administration delayed an April report that could have officially called China a currency manipulator.

Property values could plunge billions in value along hundred of miles of the Gulf coast, according to an analysis. 

Lost property value could total more than $4.3 billion, representing a 10 percent decrease from the effects of the oil spill, said Norm Miller, CoStar Group vice president of Analytics, on Friday. 

"It’s impossible at present to estimate the degree of property value decline from the spill," because of the already weak housing market in Florida," Miller said. 

To reach his conclusion, Miller used an average cost of $3 million an acre and subtracted a 10 percent value hit from the oil spill across 569 miles or 14,396 acres affected. 

"That's probably an understatement in assessing the impact to environmentally sensitive wetlands," Miller said. 

Consumer confidence hit its highest level in more than two years this month, according to a survey released Friday. 

Consumer sentiment rose to 75.5, the highest level since January 2008, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment Friday. 

June's numbers rose more than expected from the 73.6 posted in May, a reflection that consumer confidence hasn't taken hit from negative news, specifically the European debt crisis. 

The unexpected fall in retail sales in May shows that consumers will likely need to see an improvement in employment levels and income growth to continue providing the economy with a needed boost. 

Retail sales unexpectedly tumbled by 1.2 percent last month, the largest decline in eight months, creating new worries that the economic recovery is lacking a foothold. 

Consumers cut spending across the board for the first time since September 2009, when sales dropped 2.2 percent, the Commerce Department said Friday. 

Economists had expected a slight increase in spending, which had been building steam and aiding the nation's economic recovery during the past several months, despite high levels of unemployment and a stock market shaken by the European debt crisis. 

Year-over-year sales were up 6.9 percent, as April sales numbers were revised up to 0.6 percent, better than the 0.4 percent estimated gain.