Stocks: Itty-Bitty Uptick
07/23/08 - 04:26 PM EDT
Mike Taylor
As for the bond market, 10-year Treasury notes were down 4/32 in price to yield 4.12%. The 30-year was off 11/32, yielding 4.68%. The dollar reversed earlier gains to fall slightly against the euro, the yen and the pound.
Looking at economic data, weekly crude oil inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels, a narrower decline than was expected, while gasoline inventories rose by 2.8 million barrels. Refinery utilization declined 2.4 percentage points to 87.1%. The Federal Reserve released its beige book, a summary of anecdotal economic information collected by each of the central bank's regional branches. The Fed cited weakness in the housing market and companies' difficulties passing on price increases to consumers, along with weakening auto sales, as indicators that economic activity has slowed. "The Fed is still sort of stalemated ... in terms of doing anything on their policy side," said Stu Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services. "You don't usually see big gaps from one beige book to another - 'The economy fell apart,' or 'The economy leapt into the stratosphere.'" Hoffman said the beige book's tone indicates that the economy is a bit weaker than was shown in the June 11 report, and although there are subtle differences in the new release, the macroeconomic situation remains largely the same. While the Fed considers inflation an ongoing problem, low availability of credit and deteriorating loan quality also remain on the radar, he said. Abroad, global markets were stronger. The FTSE in London, the DAX in Frankfurt, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng all climbed.
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