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Editors Picks US Stocks at a Glance
Editors Picks US Stocks at a Glance 
Market Watch
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The Federal Reserve is doing its thing to calm the maniacs running around like chickens with their heads cut off. And the president and his administration have come out with a program to bail out who knows how many folks with bad financial judgment. |
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| US Stocks at a Glance |
| Tuesday, 29 January 2008 | ||||||||
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The Fed's imminent rate decision is clearly the market's focus this week, so trading will be marked by investors' conjectures about policymakers' thoughts on the weak economy and crunched financial industry. With a decision not expected until Wednesday afternoon, the market in the meantime digested Tuesday's data on earnings, consumer spending and durable goods. Investors did get some encouragement about the economy after the Commerce Department said orders for big-ticket items rose 5.2 percent in December, the widest jump in five months. In addition, the Conference Board reported consumer confidence fell in December -- but was slightly higher than expected. Economic data will continue to be scrutinized as investors try to determine what the psyche of the Federal Reserve is regarding the economy. Investors are angling for a half-point cut following its emergency three-quarter-point cut last week. In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 49.27, or 0.40 percent, to 12,433.16. Broader indexes were mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.86, or 0.29 percent, to 1,357.82, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 3.37, or 0.14 percent, to 2,346.54. Government bond prices fell as stocks rose. The 10-year Treasury note's yield, which moves opposite its price, was at 3.63 percent, up from 3.58 percent late Monday. The dollar was mixed against most major currencies except the yen, and gold prices rose. Oil prices moved higher as traders waited to see what the Fed's next move will be. A barrel of light sweet crude fell 11 cents to $90.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Fed is widely expected to lower its key rate, now at 3.5 percent, by as much as one-half percentage point to 3 percent when policy-makers wrap up the meeting on Wednesday. Investors are also focused on President Bush's State of the Union address Monday night. Bush urged Congress, as expected, to expedite its approval of a $150 billion tax relief and business incentive package. As American Express Co.'s fourth-quarter results indicated Monday, companies are being forced to prepare for a climate throughout 2008 of deteriorating credit and slower spending. American Express said its fourth-quarter profit fell 10 percent after socking away more cash in reserve to use in case cardholders can't pay back their debt. AmEx fell 70 cents to $46.70. In other earnings news, 3M Co., the maker of Post-it notes and Scotch tape, reported on Tuesday a decline in net income but the results beat analyst expectations. 3M fell 48 cents to $76.96. The embattled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., which was recently bought by Bank of America Corp., posted a sharp loss, as expected, due to its missteps in subprime lending. Countrywide rose 28 cents, or 4.7 percent, to $6.23; BofA added 32 cents to $41.52. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 3.34, or 0.48 percent, to 699.05. Advancing issues barely led decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 182.7 million. In European trading, London's FTSE rose 1.30 percent; Frankfurt's DAX rose 1.31 percent; and Paris' CAC rose 1.83 percent. Source : iHub Newsdesk This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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