Economy
CLOSING BELL: July 5: DJIA: 12,896.67 | DOWN 47.15 | -0.36%
OIL: $87.22, DOWN 0.44, -0.50%
GOLD: $1,609.40, DOWN 12.40, -0.76%
GASOLINE (US Avg): $3.338, +.002
Stocks Trim Early Losses, End Mixed
Emily Jane Fox, CNN Money- U.S. stocks pared earlier losses and ended mixed Thursday, as investors grew hopeful that interest rate cuts from China and Europe, along with tepid U.S. economic data, could bring more meaningful central bank action.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 47 points, or 0.4%, and the S&P 500 (SPX) lost 6 points, or 0.5%, while the Nasdaq (COMP) finished barely in positive territory. Earlier, the three major indexes were down between 0.6% and 0.8%.
Financial stocks were among the worst performers. Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500), Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM,Fortune 500) all finished in the red.
Thursday was a big day for central bank intervention. The European Central Bank lowered its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.75%. Meanwhile, the Bank of England increased asset purchases by £50 billion ($78.1 billion) and thePeople’s Bank of China cut several key interest rates for the second time in less than a month. China’s central bank brought its lending rate down by 0.31 percentage points to 6%.
Analysts attribute the turnaround to investors’ hope that today’s stimulus measures are a sign of things to come.
The Common Good publishes this financial markets wrap-up every weekday after markets close.
