Stocks struggle on US retail sales, Europe woes
Retail sales fall for a second straight month. Wholesale prices drop more than expected. European markets waver as Italian borrowing costs jump. Dimon calls JPMorgan's trading loss 'an isolated event.'
Updated at 12:01 p.m. ET
By Andrea Tse
U.S. stocks struggled to find a direction Wednesday as investors digested a second straight month of declines in retail sales as well as rising borrowing costs in Italy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) was down 17 points at 12,556. The Nasdaq ($COMPX) was flat at 2,843, and the S&P 500 ($INX) was down 2 points at 1,322.
U.S. stocks surged Tuesday as investors focused on the possibility of more monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve amid disheartening economic data, looking past ongoing questions about the stability of the eurozone.
"Traders have been hypersensitive to any whiff of stimulus," said Roger Volz, the director of BGC Financial.
The market will get more reads on the health of the economy Thursday.
The Commerce Department on Wednesday reported that retail sales fell by a slightly less-than-expected 0.2% in May after declining by a downwardly revised 0.2% in April. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected sales to contract by 0.3% in May.
Retail sales, excluding autos, fell 0.4% in May after declining 0.3% in April.
The Labor Department reported that the producer price index fell by a more-than-expected 1% in May after falling 0.2% in April. The decline was the largest since July 2009. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected a drop of 0.7% for May.
The May producer price index, excluding food and energy components, rose 0.2% for the second straight month.
The FTSE 100 in London as flat and the DAX in Germany was down 0.44% as Italy's borrowing costs jumped at a sale of 6.5 billion euros ($8.1 billion) in bonds. Eurozone industrial production declined less than expected in April, while March data were upwardly revised.
The Hong Kong Hang Seng closed up 0.8% and the Nikkei in Japan finished higher by 0.6%.
July crude oil futures were down 47 cents at $83.15 a barrel. August gold futures were up $5.50 to $1,619.30 an ounce.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon testified before the Senate Banking Committee about the $2 billion trading loss the bank incurred from credit derivatives hedging. He apologized for the loss, citing poorly managed traders using a strategy they didn't understand, CNBC reported. Dimon gave more details about what went wrong and what the bank plans to do about it. "While we can never say we won't make mistakes, . . . we do believe this to be an isolated event," he said.
Dell (DELL) has announced plans to start paying a dividend. The annual yield is 32 cents a share. Dell will make its first quarterly payment of 8 cents a share in the third quarter. Based on Dell's Monday closing price of $11.86, the dividend yield would be 2.7%. Dell is holding its annual analyst meeting Wednesday.
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Asia mixed to the upside.....Europe mixed to the downside...Americas, who knows??
Gold slight rise.....
Greeks hauling more money out of Big Banks 500-800 mil/Euros in recent days.
Small Banks losing about 10-30 mil/E
Then they have a poll or question on financial site...Would you support giving to Eurozone for support.
75-80% said NO...WTH are people nutz, the Greeks won't help/save themselves, Why would anyone else want to?
POTUS is out with a radio ad to elicit black support for his re-election. Once again, he is shamelessly stoking the fires of class warfare. The premise of his latest ad is that he won’t support tax breaks for millionaires at the expense of: head start programs, asking students to pay more for college, or reducing Medicaid for the needy, as if millionaires were responsible for creating those dependency needs in the first place. Besides, if we lower taxes more economic activity will take place and more revenues will flow into the treasury. If we raise taxes, less economic activity will take place, and less money will flow. Also, privatize(as much as possible) all those “needs” he seems so concerned about and costs will go down, and quality will go up… It works for just about every other industry, why won’t it work for these?
i'm putting my money into the home loan, emergency cash, other areas since basic savings is so bad. where will i stash extra cash once these bases are full?
>>>We will never have a strong and stable economy as long as interest rates on savings accounts remain below the rate of inflation.<<<
The source of many of our economic problems today, is that Americans over the past generation or so, were unwilling to delay gratification on consumption.
Their parents "bought a boat at retirement" after years of saving. The kids want the boat at 24 or 28, and they will go into debt to get it. Kids today have to have the latest game system and many parents will go and buy it, even if their finances are tight.
When I was a kid, my mom made me work and earn money for a $10.00 item I wanted.
Irresponsible living will lead to problems. People get used to living on credit and lenders are more than willing to make these people their slaves. When the credit markets get in trouble and the lending stops or interest rates go up, all of a sudden these borrowers act like some unforseen event has overtaken them.
It is real simple - the borrower is a slave to the lender. If you don't want to be in this situation, then be judicious with your borrowing habits.
bingo!
why invest in growing your company with more robotic equipment or people if the ability for usa to sell on a world scale is stacked against you?
>>>>>We all know jobs jobs jobs is the key our dilemma. Not one word from a Congressperson or Senator about changing trade policy to get jobs back so we can all contribute and take care of ourselves. I know I've said it ad nauseum but ever ask why? Why does this treasonous policy continue. Jobs are the lifeblood of any successful society and economy. Any person with a pulse can recognize our jobs loss and tax base loss is clearly attributable to the outsourcing policies and yet not even one word about a change. I hate to seem like a conspiracy nut job but how can any rational person argue there is not a secret arrangement we are unaware of. And we were promised transparency, I think not!<<<<<<
The Obuma solution = MORE borrowing , MORE spending , MORE gov jobs
BIGGER GOV!
QE 3 = MORE corruption, MORE frivolous spending , with NO RESULTS
Ask yourself, WHY would QE 3 WORK , when QE 1 AND 2 FAILED?
VOTE THIS BUM OUT IN NOV !!
ABO
ABO
HEADLINE RECYCLING AT MSN
Tomorow it will read " Market Surges on Euro-deal Hope.
The real tests are just ahead for Europe. Greece votes on Leaving the EU next week which is just the start of an answer.The big test is comming at the end of the month. Germany has now said that if Italy, Spain and the rest of the Socialist paracites in Europe want their money they are going to have to give up some of their autonomy and allow Germany a big say in their dicision making process.
In my view this will never happen (Think about the history of Germany v The rest of Europe over the past 100 years-ie WWI & WWII). The End of Europe as an entity and the Euro as a currency as we know it is near. Hopefully it will also wake our government to the fact that uncontrolled spending leads to failure.
no - i grew up 2 hours from gettysburg. had to visit some 9 times for school trips and scouting events. even dropped by there again 3 years ago. yes, statesrights were part of the war, but like many wars it was a combination of straws that tipped it into action. cheap former slave labor was one of the big sparks.
>>>>The Civil War had nothing to do with a flood of slaves.. It's was about States Rights....And involved Religious Issues about equality.<<<<
It is about jobs -
But not just people getting hired, but what kind of job - if is is PART TIME W/O benefits, then these people will not have the ability to grow our economy. Most jobs being created are part time, contract labor, or at lesser pay than the person made at a comparable position previously.
I have been unemployed for 3 years, and I am getting ready to start part time as a contract worker. This means I will have to pay both sides of SS and medicare. This is 13.30% currently,plus my federal income tax. OH, I get to to deduct half of this amount from my taxable income but I still will pay more than $2K in additional taxes. I have no benefits, and I will be unable to collect unemployment should I lose my contract. The employer does not have to pay unemployment insurance premiums on me or any other expense.
Employers are finding ways to squeeze more profits by resorting to these employment practices. In the long run this will not help our economy grow, nor wealth growth for the middle class.
Lucky for me I am 62 and not in debt except for a small mortgage on my home. Still driving a 92 Honda Accord with 284K miles that runs great and has good A/C. Wife drives 98 Toyota Avalon also in great shape and it has 200K miles. No credit card debt.
I also have lived BELOW my means and saved money, which made it so I could weather this 3 year storm.
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