While you were sleeping: Economic worry prevails

Thursday 15th November 2012

Stocks on both sides of the pond fell amid a flurry of disappointing economic data including US retail sales and industrial production in the euro zone, underpinning concern about the outlook for corporate profits.

Commerce Department data showed that said US retail sales slid more than expected in October, dropping 0.3 percent following a 1.3 percent gain that was bigger than previously reported in September.

Then there is the uncertainty of the fiscal cliff overhanging the US economy. President Barack Obama will begin budget negotiations with congressional leaders Friday by calling for US$1.6 trillion in additional tax revenue over the next decade, far more than Republicans are likely to accept and double the US$800 billion discussed in talks with GOP leaders during the summer of 2011, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"The recent wall of worry continues to mount," Ryan Larson, the Chicago-based head of US equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management (US), told Bloomberg News. "Middle East geo-political tensions, continued sovereign concerns about Greece and Spain, indecision ahead of the fast-approaching fiscal cliff and the fact that the major US indices continue to trade under key technical levels are all weighing on sentiment."

In afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.65 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 0.46 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.34 percent. Indeed, the mood in Europe was sombre too. The Stoxx 600 Index fell 0.9 percent.

The FTSE 100 shed 1.1 percent, while both Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 each closed down 0.9 percent. The latest economic data only pointed to a further slowdown amid the ongoing debt crisis in the euro zone. The region's industrial production sank the most in more than three years in September, dropping a bigger-than-expected 2.5 percent from August, according to the EU's statistics office.

Meanwhile, Greece's economy suffered a contraction for the 17th consecutive quarter, shrinking 7.2 percent in the third quarter from the same period last year. There were pockets of optimism. Shares of Cisco received a lift, last up 5.1 percent, from better-than-expected earnings. Abercrombie & Fitch shares soared more than 27 percent after the teen clothing retailer lifted its full-year forecast.

Facebook shares climbed 8.8 percent. The latest end to a restriction of share sales by former employees and those who sold at the initial public offering today nearly doubled the total number of shares publicly available, according to Bloomberg. "Some of the investors are thinking the worst is behind Facebook and now is maybe the time to go long on the stock," Victor Anthony, an analyst at Topeka Capital Markets in New York, told Bloomberg.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet