Stocks struggle as crisis in Europe deepens
European debt troubles remain in the foreground, and protests turn violent in Spain and Greece. US new-home sales fall, but prices soar. RIM advances after announcing more subscribers.
Updated 12:06 p.m. ETA day after the Dow posted its biggest one-day loss in nearly a month, U.S. stocks slipped as investors followed the unfolding events in Europe, specifically in Spain and Greece. Stocks remained lower after data showed new-home sales fell in August, though prices soared.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) was was down 10 points at 13,447. The S&P 500 ($INX) was down 5 points at 1,436. The Nasdaq Composite ($COMPX) was down 22 points at 3,096.
Tuesday's sell-off
On Tuesday, Charles Plosser, the president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, said he does not believe the Fed's latest stimulus campaign will do anything for economic growth. Markets skidded after his comments.
The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) fell 101 points to 13,458, their third straight decline. The S&P 500 ($INX) was off 15 points to 1,442, and the Nasdaq Composite ($COMPX) was down 43 points to 3,118, its second loss in a row. Apple (AAPL), the biggest influence on the Nasdaq-100 ($NDX), was down $17.25 to $673.54.
Concerns over the effect of a slowing global growth on company profits also heightened Tuesday after Caterpillar (CAT) became the latest high-profile company to cut its outlook.
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After positive housing data Tuesday, figures were mixed Wednesday. Sales of new single-family homes in the U.S. fell slightly in August but held near two-years highs. Sales dipped to 373,000 from July's slightly revised level of 374,000, the Commerce Department said. Economists had expected new-home sales to reach 380,000, according to Briefing.com.
The median sales prices, however, soared by 11.2% in August to $256,900, the highest level in more than five years and the biggest monthly increase ever recorded.
Housing data released Tuesday showed home prices increased for the fourth month in a row, to their highest level in nearly two years. Although cheered at first by the data, markets reversed course after Plosser's remarks.
Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose 2.8% last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday, as interest rates dropped to record lows in the wake of the Fed's latest stimulus efforts.
Concerns about Spain and Greece
Meanwhile, in Spain, anti-austerity protests in Madrid turned violent. Also, the Catalonia region announced early elections that could lead to the country's most economically important region to declare independence from Spain.
The Spanish government is expected to announce the 2013 budget and an economic plan on Thursday. Some observers are speculating the government might announce a bailout, while others think it will wait until Italy asks for help as well. Borrowing costs, however, surged for Spain on Wednesday. Not helping matters was a letter from Germany, Finland and the Netherlands on Tuesday implying that any rescue funds Spain receives for its banks will remain part of its public debt.
Another problematic eurozone country, Greece, is facing a 24-hour general strike to protest austerity measures. Meanwhile, European Central Bank executive board member Joerg Asmussen said in a newspaper interview Wednesday that the ECB won't take part in any potential debt restructuring of Greece and that the country's external financing needs can be met only by member states.
Global markets
As worries over Spain and Greece escalated, European stock markets moved sharply lower, following Wall Street and Asia markets' steep declines that were prompted by Plosser's comments.
Asian markets suffered a sell-off Wednesday, with Chinese stocks falling to their lowest level since January 2009 and Japanese shares tumbling as many companies began to trade without rights to their latest dividend payouts.
The euro fell to a more than two-week low against the dollar, while the dollar strengthened against a basket of six major currencies. Crude oil futures extended their losses, falling below $91 a barrel in Asian trading.
Stocks to watch
Research In Motion (RIMM) shares rose in after-hours trading Tuesday after the smartphone maker said it had added 2 million subscribers to its BlackBerry service and showed off a new mobile operating system, which won't be out until next year.
Jabil Circuit (JBL) shares were down after the provider of electronic-design services reported lower profits that missed analyst estimates. The company also issued a fiscal-first-quarter earnings outlook late Tuesday that also fell short of most analysts' forecasts.
RadioShack (RSH) said CEO James Gooch will step down effective immediately as the company seeks to revive its flagging fortunes, Reuters reported. CFO Dorvin Lively will be the interim CEO.
Government added 4,000,000,000 more to the deficit every day so far this year. Ben is shoveling in ?,000,000,000 into the market every day. Where is the audit of the Fed. Harry? Thanks for squashing Rand Paul's call for a full audit. Liberal sleaze ball politics under the direction of the imposter messiah. Obama lied when he said you can't change Washington from within. His Chicago mob style rule has proven that by him protecting the crooks in his cabinet at the tax payer's expense. No real solutions, just empty promises and plenty of blame to go around.
Yep the real housing market data is horrible but hey what do you want to believe the horrible truth or the rose colored Obama numbers.
So much for a housing recovery it's tanking again.
QUOTE
New home sales in August hit an annualized rate of 373,000, which is slightly down from July's revised rate of 374,000, and worse than the rate of 380,000 that had been broadly expected.
END QUOTE
100% correct! This should include the truth about our deficits, debts and unfunded liabilities. It should also include the truth about gov spending - specifically defense spending, entitlement spending and "bridge to nowhere" spending. In addition, a full audit of the Federal Reserve and of our physical gold holdings should be conducted and made public.
“When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”- Thomas Sowell
Most of our politicians only tell us what we want to hear.
It's Bush's fault the financial meltdown?
One should harken back to the early days of the Clinton administration when Bill championed deregulation and in fact, signed into law the repeal of the Glass-Stegal act which separated investment banking from financial banking.
The guilty cast of characters including Bill were from both parties. Also remember that it wasn't only the banks who made a ton of bad loans, but it was also the borrowers who signed up for them who were either naive or dishonest. Of course, Wall Street through financial engineering created products of dubious value, but how can one explain a sophisticated company like AIG selling CDS (credit default swaps) on highly risky loans (MBS) or the credit rating agencies who incorrectly rated them?.
What about investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns? Do you think they wanted to fail? Why did they take on such enormous risk?
Bush was totally unaware of the impending financial collapse including Greenspan, Geithner and Bernanke. What Bush was really responsible for was involving us in two ridiculous and costly wars which have only created a more dangerous world.
WASHINGTON, DC: The White House announced that for the first time in decades, our sitting American President spoke at the United Nations but chose not meet with even one world leader at the United Nations General Assembly meeting. Further, it is now believed that Barack Hussein Obama is actually Chauncey Gardiner! The White House also stated that this is the fault of George W. Bush also!
For fun watch the video included... this could easily be Obozo on the www
Here's a few article ideas
EU woes Monday- EU bailout measures Friday.
Fiscal cliff problems Monday - Emergency vote saves day Friday.
Layoffs jobs problems Monday - Unemployment claims down Friday.
Housing slump Monday - Recovery outlook in housing sector Friday.
Greece woes Monday - Greece bailout plan Friday.
Retailers outlook grim for Holiday's Monday - Retailers great outlook Friday.
Housing foreclosures up Monday - Housing starts up Friday.
Auto sales up Monday - Auto industry says new bailout needed Friday.
Banks offer homeowners relief Monday - No one qualifys for re-fi loans Friday.
THESE ARTICLES ARE NOTHING BUT BS
Here is what the future in investing looks like.
Markets soar on expectations of QE (insert number here).
Housing sales slump. Markets soar.
Housing prices skyrocket. Markets soar.
Building owners now renting shoe box size apartments for big bucks. Markets soar.
Food prices off the charts. Market soars.
Nations Declare Water Shortages. Markets soar.
Boone Pickens Corners the Air You Breathe Market. Markets soar.
Tuna Climbs to $1,000,000.00 per Fish. Markets Soar.
Gas Prices Rise to $20.00 per Gallon on Consumer Confidence. Market soar.
Payrolls Plummet for 50TH Year in a Row. Markets soar.
Government declares middle class officially dead. Markets soar.
Unemployment increases. Markets soar.
Capitalism Declared Dead. Markets soar.
Free Enterprise Declared Dead. Markets soar.
Employers decree no more employees needed ever. Everything Profit. Markets soar.
Social Security goes belly up. SS Tax remains. Markets soar.
President declares all pensions illegal. Government and Wall Street divy up funds. Markets soar.
April 16 Declared National Greed and Avarice Day. Markets soar.
Adolf Hitler, Jr. assumes control of NYSE. Markets soar.
I could do this forever.
BUT BUT BUT THERE IS FREE MONIES BEING HANDED OUT BY BERNANKE TO HIS SUPER RICH FRIENDS. ALL IS OK FOLKS.
Folks there is no crisis in Europe heck the Wall Street bankers over there are getting trillions of euros from the European Central Bank. In order to pay for the new laons the super rich are taking out over there to increase their wealth they (the 1 percenters) just want most of Europe to get paid what Chinese workers get paid 25 cents an hour so that the huge profits the 1 percenters will make off keeping prices at levels as if people were making $100,000 euros a year and only getting paid 25 cents an hour.
The increased profit margins will work wonders for the bottom lines of all European companies expect those silly enough to have moved operations over to Chinese where the minimum wage is going up to 50 cents an hour.
Yep European companies are going to be floating in euros soon as they get trillions from their central banks and double their profits by decreasing their labor costs.
Yep FREE MONIES OUT THERE GRAB YOURS before the Wall Street bankers get it all
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