NEW YORK: US stocks ended mixed in choppy trading Wednesday as the credit rating and outlook of 22 banks were lowered and President Barack Obama unveiled financial regulation reform plans.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.49 points (0.09 per cent) to end at 8,497.18, its third straight day of losses. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 11.88 points (0.66 per cent) to 1,808.06 while the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.26 points (0.14 per cent) to 910.71.
Financial stocks were hit after Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit rating and revised the outlook on 22 US banks, citing market volatility and tighter regulatory supervision. The market was also dragged down by package delivery giant FedEx’s disappointing sales and earnings outlook after it reported an US$876 million quarterly loss.
“A disappointing forecast from FedEx and a rating cut for multiple banks weighed on stocks in early trading and eventually gave way to a broad selling effort,” analysts at Briefing.com wrote. “Stocks were able to recover from their lows, but finished the session with mixed results,” they said.
The market showed little reaction to a government report that its consumer price index (CPI) rose a modest 0.1 per cent in May, less than most analysts’ expectations of a 0.3 per cent gain. The consumer inflation data came a day after the government reported that US wholesale prices measured by the producer price index (PPI) had risen 0.2 per cent, lower than the 0.6 per cent expected by economists.
Investors also gauged financial reforms proposed by Obama in the most “sweeping” regulatory overhaul since the 1930s. He vowed to stop future meltdowns in a financial system humbled by lax oversight, greed and huge debts.
Not all players reacted favorably to the reform plan. “While the administration said the reformation would help ’unleash the creativity and innovation that still make this nation the envy of the world,’ not everyone was as enthusiastic, as two of the three major market indices finished in the red,” said Andrea Kramer of Schaeffer Investment Research. -- AFP
About Me
- Nuang
- Ibrahim bin Ramli@Nuang started his career with CIMB Wealth Advisors Berhad as Agency Manager in April, 2008.Previously he was an Internal Auditors and Accounts Executive with Perodua Sales Sdn Bhd since 17 August, 1994. His background:- 1.Certified of Achievement for Master Sales Leadership from Dr Lawrence Walter Ng of President of The Art Of Learning and International Of Learning Without Learning 2.Certified for eXtra Ordinary Performance of Lawrence Walter Award Certificate for One Million Ringgit Club 2007 3. Certified Life & General insurances 4. Conferred with Diploma in Business Studiess & Bachelor of Business Admin(Hons)Finance from UiTM, Terengganu Branch & Shah Alam respectively;
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