Stocks on Wall Street closed lower for a third day with the blue chips falling 1% in November, the first down month since August.The European sovereign debt crisis continued to dictate investor sentimentdespite some encouraging US economic data.The Chicag
Stocks on Wall Street closed lower for a third day with the blue chips falling 1% in November, the first down month since August.
The European sovereign debt crisis continued to dictate investor sentiment
despite some encouraging US economic data.
The Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index was 62.5 in November, better than the
60.0 reading economists were expecting, while the Conference Board's November
reading of consumer confidence came in at 54.1, better than economists'
forecast of 52.5.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 46.47 points, or 0.4%, at 11,006.02 when the choppy session ended (10am NZ time). At one stage, the market was close to moving out of the red, as consumer-related stocks rose.
Caterpillar was the best Dow performer, rising 1.1%, while Wal-Mart was up 0.5% and Walt Disney 0.3%. Bank of America was the worst, losing 3.2%. Others to drop were Procter & Gamble, down 1.7%, and Hewlett-Packard, down 1.6%.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1% to 2498.23, with Google dropping 4.4% on report was offering to buy Groupon, a social-network site geared toward discount shoppers, in a deal worth $US6 billion.
The S&P 500 index was down 0.6% at 1180.55, weighed by its technology sector.
Both the broader measures fell in November, ending a two-month winning streak.
Other markets: Europe mixed, Asia down
European stocks fluctuated between small losses and small gains.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2% to 262.56. London's FTSE 100 Index was
unchanged at 5550.30, Frankfurt's DAX was 0.4% higher at 6725.14 and Paris'
CAC-40 Index slipped 0.2% to 3630.69.
In Asia, stocks ended mostly lower with the Chinese market slumping
seven-week low due to continued concerns about further measures to tighten
monetary policy.
Korea edged higher amid an uneasy calm on the Korean peninsula while Japan
fell as the yen rose against the euro and after data showed a rise in
unemployment and a drop in industrial production in October.
The Nikkei Stock Average was 1.9% lower at 9937.04, China's Shanghai
Composite Index slid 1.6% to 2820.18, its lowest closing level since October
11, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.7% to 23007.99 and Australia's
S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7% to 4584.43.
Korea's Kospi Composite was 0.5% higher at 1904.63 and India¹s Sensex was up
0.6% to 19,521.25.
Commodities: Oil down, gold up
Crude futures tumbled, settling near $US84 a barrel on renewed worries about European sovereign debt ahead of key data on US inventories.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery settled $US1.62, or 1.9%, lower at $US84.11 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled $US1.42 lower at $US85.92 a barrel.
Gold futures rose higher with the most traded contract, for February
delivery, settling $US3.20 higher at $US1367.50 an ounce in New York.
Currencies:
The euro fell below the $1.30 mark and slid against the yen to levels last
seen on Sept. 15 as investor confidence in the economic health of the euro
zone continued to erode.
Italy's 10-year government bond yield spreads over German bunds rose more
than 0.2 percentage points to 2.15 percentage points, a record high, while
Portuguese, Spanish and Italian five-year sovereign-debt credit-default
swaps also widened to record levels.
Separately, the dollar fell sharply against the yen, falling about 0.9%,
amid a flight to the Japanese currency.
The euro was at $US1.3034 from $US1.3123 late on Monday. The dollar was at
¥83.58 from ¥84.24, while the euro was at ¥108.92 from ¥110.55.
The UK pound was at $US1.5592 from $US1.5574. The dollar was at 0.9952 Swiss francs from 0.9997.
