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Roller-coaster ride for Wall Street
Blue chips snap losing streak but Nasdaq falls for 5th straight session as rate worries persist; oil dips; bonds, dollar gain.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The Dow Jones industrial average snapped a four-session losing streak Thursday, but just barely, as investors remained skittish about rising interest rates. The Dow (down 71.24 to 10,930.90, Charts) added a few points after tumbling about 170 earlier in the session.
While the 30-stock Dow managed to rebound Thursday, it's still off 6 percent since May 10 - the date of the last rate increase by the Federal Reserve - when the world's most widely watched market gauge finished about 80 points shy of its all-time high. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index (up 1.78 to 1,257.93, Charts) also edged higher after earlier sliding briefly into the red for the year. The Nasdaq composite (down 7.68 to 2,145.32, Charts), already in the loss column for 2006, fell for the fifth straight session, down 0.3 percent. Stocks got a much-needed boost in the final hour or so of trading after the White House raised its forecast for economic growth this year to 3.6 percent, up from its 3.4 percent forecast in December. The Bush administration, however, also bumped up its outlook for a closely watched inflation gauge and said it expects the Consumer Price Index to rise 3 percent this year, from an earlier forecast of 2.4 percent. After the market close, chipmaker Texas Instruments (Research) issued an earnings forecast for the current quarter that exceeded analysts' expectations. Shares rose 2.4 percent in after-hours trading. As of 5:15 p.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures pointed to a flat opening for stocks Friday. Investors will take in a reading on the April trade balance Friday. They also will be closely watching comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who is set to give a speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bernanke, who took over the helm of the central bank from Alan Greenspan Feb. 1, has sent what some complain are mixed messages about the central bank's intentions about rates. Rate worries spread
Stocks spent most of Thursday deep in negative territory as investors worried that rising rates would hurt global economic growth and watched stock markets around the world tumble. (Full story.) Oil and gold prices sank, while bond prices jumped as investors sought safety. The dollar also gained. "What the market is focusing on today is what it has focused on the last several weeks: Interest rates and whether the Fed will cause a recession or pull off a soft landing," said Alfred Goldman, chief market strategist at A.G. Edwards. The fear among many investors is that if rates go too high, that could choke off growth or even lead to recession. The desired "soft landing" would be if the Fed can slow economic growth enough to quell inflation without causing too much of a slowdown. Rate hikes in various corners of the globe triggered the worldwide stock selloff. The European Central Bank raised its key interest rate a quarter percentage point, as expected. But in surprise moves, central bankers in India and South Korea also raised their key rates Thursday. European shares sank to their lowest since Nov. 30, and Asian markets tumbled, with Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index sliding 3 percent. South Korea's benchmark Kospi index sank 3.5 percent, and Bombay's Sensex index tumbled 4.7 percent, although India announced its rate hike after the Indian markets had closed. "Now that you're getting Asia and Europe moving up rates, the question now is what will the Fed do here," said Matthew Smith, vice president and portfolio manager at Smith Affiliated Capital. On another day light on economic news, investors watched the testimony of Fed governor Donald Kohn, whose nomination to be vice chairman of the central bank is being considered by the Senate Banking Committee. Kohn cut to the heart of the matter, saying rapid economic changes worldwide posed a big challenge to the Fed in its efforts to keep inflation under wraps and employment strong. He also said rising prices had raised an inflation "warning flag". (Full story). What moved?
Among Dow stocks, 18 rose while 12 declined. Consumer goods maker Procter and Gamble (down $0.13 to $53.24, Research) was the biggest winner, rising 2.8 percent after it backed the quarterly earnings outlook it made in May late Wednesday. The FDA approved Merck's (down $0.08 to $33.88, Research) Gardasil, the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Shares rose immediately following the announcement, but finished little changed. Tech bellwether IBM (down $2.29 to $76.86, Research) and Hewlett-Packard (down $0.77 to $30.16, Research) led declines on the blue-chip index. Among other tech stocks, AMD (down $0.90 to $27.10, Research) skidded 3.5 percent after a Citigroup analyst slashed his price target for the stock, citing worries about a price war with Intel. Gold stocks were weak. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Sector Index (down $3.54 to $132.38, Research) slipped 2.3 percent. Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners topped advancers three to two on volume of 2.54 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, losers beat winners also by a margin of three to two as 2.98 billion shares changed hands. In commodity markets, U.S. light crude oil for July delivery pared its losses and fell 47 cents to settle at $70.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The front-month contract sank as low as $69.10 a barrel on news of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. COMEX gold for August delivery tumbled further, losing $19.10 to settle at $613.50 an ounce. The dollar rose against the euro and the yen, as higher interest rates generally make dollar-denominated investments more attractive to foreign investors. In the bond market, Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 5 percent, down from 5.02 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. ----------------- |
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