[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] US indexes did an about face and retreated in the final minutes of trading erasing earlier gains after a Senate vote kept $85 billion of automatic spending cuts in place starting at midnight, and data on growth and employment gave out mixed signals about the economy’s health. Gains in the US equity averages fizzled out after …
Stocks Rise On Housing Data And Bernanke Talk; European Markets Climb As Earnings Top Estimates
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] US stocks surged Wednesday in a late rally, sending the Dow Industrials to a five-year high as investors welcomed more upbeat housing data and the Federal Reserve chief’s dovish testimony for the second day, reiterating his commitment to monetary stimulus to bolster growth. In other words, the spiked punchbowl will not be watered down as was …
Equities Rebound On Economic Data, Fed Speak; Europe Slides On Italian Deadlock
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] US stocks advanced Tuesday, recouping more than half of Monday’s biggest decline in the benchmark indices since November as Bernanke defended the Fed’s policy amid solid housing and consumer confidence data. The jury is still out whether that was just a low volume dead cat bounce, or the beginning of something more. Economic activity in the …
US Indexes Break Below Major Milestone Levels As Italy And Sequestration Hit
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] US stocks turned severely lower, with the Dow Industrials and the S&P 500 suffering their sharpest one-day decline of the year, giving benchmark indexes the biggest loss since November as political instability in Italy and looming spending cuts in the US hit investor sentiment. Stocks erased early gains as partial election results suggested Italy may be …
S&P 500 Fights To Stay Above 1,500; US And European Equities Continue Their Slide
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] US equities finished lower for a second straight day as a weak regional manufacturing report weighed on investor sentiment while concern mounted that the US Federal Reserve will scale back the pace of stimulus. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s index fell to minus 12.5 in February, the lowest since June, from minus 5.8 the month …
US Indexes Hit Fresh Five-Year Highs; European Stocks Rally As German Sentiment Improves
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] US stocks finished higher Tuesday, sending the Dow Industrials and S&P 500 to new five-year highs, buoyed by a rise in corporate deal making and an improvement in German investor sentiment. OfficeMax Inc vaulted 21 percent while Office Depot Inc jumped 9.4 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported Monday (a market holiday) that the companies were in …