Stocks Seesaw, Investors Waver

Another seesaw day on Wall Street Monday ended mixed for the major averages.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite found positive territory, ending a three-day losing streak, but the Dow Industrials lost another 17 points, closing at 12101 – a new low for the year. The move from 13000 to near 12000 was swift;  the Dow was last at 13000 in early May.

Futures Tuesday morning are pointing to a modestly higher open.

Facebook (NYSE:FB) is testing new technology to allow kids under the age of 13 to have legitimate Facebook accounts.  The Wall Street Journal reports that the accounts would likely be linked to their parents’ accounts, who can then monitor their kids’ “friends.”

Already Facebook has some explaining to do to lawmakers -- the co-chairmen of the Congressional Privacy Caucus have sent Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg a letter asking for more information on the plan and urging him not to use kids as a commodity to generate revenue for the struggling social site.

Facebook shares continue to tumble, closing at a new low of $26.90 Monday. In the 11 days since Facebook has traded as a public company, it has lost ground in seven of them. The company went public on May 18th pricing at $38 a share and opening at $42.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) is buying San Francisco bakery chain La Boulange for $100 million dollars. The java giant is looking to boost its baked-goods offerings and plans to put La Boulange croissants and cookies in its stores early next year. Food accounted for $1.5 billion in revenue for Starbucks last year.

While the Obama Administration works to ensure that women earn the same wages for the same work as men, new analysis by compensation research firm PayScale maps out exactly when and why women earn less.

And guess what? The pay difference starts right at the start. Female college grads earn an average $31,900 while males earn an average $40,800. Then both sexes equally see their salaries grow by more than half until the age of 30. That’s the pivot point -- women start seeing just modest raises and their pay peaks at age 39 at an average $60,000; whereas men continue to see wage growth through age 48, when they earn a median $95,000 a year.