Wall Street finds Bernanke spooky

NEW YORK— Wall Street sank for the second straight session Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the night before that the slumping housing market remains a "significant drag" on the economy.

Bernanke's speech at the New York Economic Club elevated concerns that the summer credit crisis might persist into the winter — a sobering thought for investors, who are sifting through mixed third-quarter earnings and watching energy costs rise.

"First of all, the worry is we're getting more bad news on housing. Number two is higher oil prices. That's a pretty bad combination," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors.

He added: "Of particular concern were the comments by Bernanke. That sort of injected a fairly high level of uncertainty into the economic and earnings outlook. That comes at a time when earnings results are not particularly exciting — in fact, are dismal."