Stocks advanced earlier in the day supported by a larger than expected rise in consumer confidence and an increase in U.S. home prices. The Conference Board said that its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 53.5, 3 points greater than the anticipated 50.5; bucking the two months trend of declines. Another good news came from the Case-Shiller report that shows U.S. home prices rose 1% in June. However, this increase might not be repeated next month since the tax incentives that fueled the growth ended on April 30th and only include home closed before June 30th.
Unfortunately, the elation didn’t last very long as the tone turned bearish after the Fed released minutes from its August 10th meeting. Some investors were speculating that the central bank would continue to take steps to bolster the economy; however, the minutes raised concerns that support from the Fed may not be forthcoming unless economic conditions turn much worse.
Overall, the Dow declined from its mid-day peak to hold on to a slight gain of +4.99 points to 10,014.72, the S&P500 edged up +0.41 points to 1,049.33, and the Nasdaq lost -5.94 points to 2,114.03.
Crude oil fell for the second day to $74.08, down 62 cents. Gold closed the month above $1,250, up $11.10 to $1,250.30 an ounce. The dollar continued to fall against the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc. Lastly, Treasury prices ended higher as yields drop.
Street News
- Large banks earn billions, small banks struggle. Just like people, the divide between the rich and the poor continues to widen.
- Acquisition activities within the technology sector continue strongly. Today, VMWare (VMW) announced that it will buy Integrien and TriCipher, a network analysis company and a security software company, respectively. Terms were not disclosed, but the deals should strengthen VMWare presence in the cloud computing and storage arena.
- Genzyme (GENZ) CEO Henri Termeer said that he would considering selling the company that he had built up over the past 25 years, but rejected the $69 a share bid from Sanofi-Aventis SA.
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Stocks Seesawed by Consumer Confidence, Home Sales, and Fed Minutes (VMW, GENZ)
By: InvestorGuide Staff, dated August 31st, 2010Stocks advanced earlier in the day supported by a larger than expected rise in consumer confidence and an increase in U.S. home prices. The Conference Board said that its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 53.5, 3 points greater than the anticipated 50.5; bucking the two months trend of declines. Another good news came from the Case-Shiller report that shows U.S. home prices rose 1% in June. However, this increase might not be repeated next month since the tax incentives that fueled the growth ended on April 30th and only include home closed before June 30th.
Unfortunately, the elation didn’t last very long as the tone turned bearish after the Fed released minutes from its August 10th meeting. Some investors were speculating that the central bank would continue to take steps to bolster the economy; however, the minutes raised concerns that support from the Fed may not be forthcoming unless economic conditions turn much worse.
Overall, the Dow declined from its mid-day peak to hold on to a slight gain of +4.99 points to 10,014.72, the S&P500 edged up +0.41 points to 1,049.33, and the Nasdaq lost -5.94 points to 2,114.03.
Crude oil fell for the second day to $74.08, down 62 cents. Gold closed the month above $1,250, up $11.10 to $1,250.30 an ounce. The dollar continued to fall against the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc. Lastly, Treasury prices ended higher as yields drop.
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