Economy
CLOSING BELL: August 23rd: DJIA: 13,057.46 | DOWN 115.30 | -0.88%
OIL: $96.27, DOWN 0.99, -1.02%
GOLD: $1,672.80, UP 32.30, +1.97%
GASOLINE (US Avg): $3.718, UP .002
Wall Street falls as Fed doubts knock equities
Chuck Mikolajczak, Reuters – Stocks fell on Thursday as expectations for quick stimulus action from the Federal Reserve faded and Chinese and euro zone data pointed to a stalling global economy.
Each of the 10 major S&P sectors finished in negative territory, with the economically sensitive materials sector .GSPM the worst performer, down 1.7 percent.
A slump in Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N) shares weighed on the technology sector, but the S&P 500 stayed above a support level at 1,400, which is seen as a positive sign.
Minutes published from the latest Federal Reserve meeting indicated the central bank might be ready for another round of stimulus for the economy, supporting equities on Wednesday. Investors speculated another round of quantitative easing by the Fed was a possibility.
However, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, a non-voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, said on CNBC that U.S. data has been somewhat better since the July 31-August 1 Fed meeting and the minutes were “a bit stale.
“You can definitely correlate (the decline) with Bullard’s comments this morning trying to temper expectations,” said Seth Setrakian, co-head of US equities at First New York Securities in New York.
“Is this an appropriate move? Why not? We’ve had a rally on expectations that things are going to happen, not because things are getting better.”
Read the rest of this article at Reuters here.
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