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U.S. markets close lower Monday

NEW YORK, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. markets reversed a morning trend and closed lower Monday, as the dollar gained strength and oil prices fell.

Crude oil prices dropped more than $2 to $78.43 per barrel as the dollar gained strength. Equity markets followed the action, breaking off from quick, early gains to fall sharply.

By close, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 104.22 points, 1.05 percent, to fall below 10,000 to 9,867.96. The Standard & Poor's 500 shed 1.17 percent, 12.65 points, to 1,066.95. The Nasdaq composite index fell 0.59 percent, 12.62 points, to 2,141.85.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 713 stocks advanced and 2,317 declined on a volume of 6.3 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell 21/32 to yield 3.567 percent.

The euro fell to $1.4861 from Friday's $1.4996. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 92.19 yen from Friday's 92.07 yen.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index added 0.77 percent, 79.63, to 10,362.62.

In London, the FTSE 100 index lost 0.97 percent, 50.83, to 5,191.74.

U.S. Chamber, White House trade non-barbs

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it would take the high road in what he called a "name-calling campaign" from officials at the White House.

"We're not going to take the bait and engage in a name-calling campaign here of invectives back and forth. We're going to stay focused," lobbyist Bruce Josten said, The Washington Post reported Monday.

The White House denied it was trying to alienate the chamber. "There has, of course, been disagreements," said Deputy Press Secretary Jen Psaki. "But we're going to continue to work with the chamber on a variety of issues," Psaki said.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is scheduled to appear as a keynote speaker at the chamber's November board meeting and President Barack Obama has invited both chamber and National Federation of Independent Business members to a discussion at the White House Thursday, the Post reported.

But tensions remain. During his run for president, Obama said he would "work for the American people" rather than "well-connected interest."

"Under the Obama administration, Washington is changing and the role of big lobbying organizations like the chamber has changed as well," Psaki said.

Picower drowned following heart attack

PALM BEACH, Fla., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. philanthropist Jeffry Picower, accused of profiting from a huge Ponzi scheme, drowned Sunday after suffering a heart attack, a family attorney said.

Picower was found Sunday at the bottom of the family's pool in Palm Beach, Fla., by his wife, Barbara. Picower, 67, had heart problems and Parkinson's disease, The New York Times reported Monday.

Picower was also under pressure, facing lawsuits concerning an alleged $7 billion he earned from investing in New York trader Bernard Madoff's firm. Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence for running a Ponzi scheme that lost an estimated $65 billion for investors.

Attorney William Zabel said an autopsy conducted by the Palm Beach County medical examiner confirmed the death was caused by drowning following "a massive heart attack."

When news of the Madoff scheme broke, Picower was listed as a victims. But the tables were turned when court trustee Irving Picard filed suit claiming Picard's account with Madoff was "so riddled with blatant and obvious fraud," that Picard should have picked up on that long ago.

Sen. Durbin baits bankers in Chicago

CHICAGO, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., invited bankers visiting Chicago for a meeting to tour a neighborhood he said had a foreclosure on every block.

With a handful of protesters by his side and an American Association of Banker's annual meeting in town, Durbin called on bankers "to visit 60629," a neighborhood near Midway Airport, The Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

"Nice, neat little brick bungalow homes well kept. Some swimming pools in the backyard. A lot of hardworking families. On every single block ... know what you're going to find? A foreclosed home," Durbin said.

While the protesters accused bankers of fighting financial reform in Washington, despite billions of dollars in federal bailouts, an ABA spokesman, John Hall, said the organization still opposed the formation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

"We just question if a new bureaucratic agency is indeed the answer, rather than working within the existing framework and improving it," he said.