Stocks lose ground as financials weigh

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks briefly turned negative on Tuesday, weighed down by financial shares, as disappointment about the absence of coordinated rate cuts by central banks tempered optimism about a Federal Reserve plan to strengthen the commercial paper market.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 41.50 points, or 0.42 percent, at 9,914.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 4.81 points, or 0.46 percent, at 1,052.08. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 13.13 points, or 0.70 percent, at 1,849.83.

Investors had bet that after Monday's slide in global equity markets, central banks might mount a coordinated response to calm jittery investors.

Bank of America fell more than 16 percent a day after it announced a plan to raise as much as $10 billion to shore up its capital. The bank also slashed its dividend and posted a slide in quarterly profit in a surprise announcement.

(Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu, Editing by Kenneth Barry)