Report: Direct deposit of $600 checks have begun

All 3 of the major averages notched new intraday highs but settled back down in the loss column for the day. The Dow shed 68, the Nasdaq 49 and the S&P was 8 points lower. Futures are higher.

The US Energy Information Administration releases its report on crude oil inventories today, and The National Association of Realtors posts pending home sales data for November. Analysts expect to see the numbers drop again in November, due to rising prices and tight inventory.  

The Federal Reserve is putting off the deadline for its “Main Street” lending program to January 8 to give it more time to process a flurry of end-of-year loan requests.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is recalling over 400,000 bottles of the popular headache medication Excedrin because of packaging defects. Holes in the plastic bottles can let pills slip through. Excedrin contains aspirin and acetaminophen, which federal law requires be in child-resistant packaging.

If you get your tax refund via direct deposit, check your bank account. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says direct deposits of $600 stimulus checks for every U.S. citizen have begun. Paper checks will start going out in the mail today. Later this week, you can check the status of your payment online at IRS.gov/GetMyPayment.