Stocks Slightly Up, Early Enthusiasm Weaker Now
Stocks Slightly Up, Early Enthusiasm Weaker Now
September 9, 2010
Stocks were modestly up this afternoon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up nearly 43 points, the NASDAQ was up nearly 10 points, and the S&P 500 was up nearly 7 points this afternoon.
The very anemic economy is blamed for the fact that so far in September; the NYSE was trading at roughly half the level it was trading in August. This is a very bad sign for the economy. A separate report showed that the US trade deficit contracted very sharply in July, its worst in 17 months. The economy is still bleeding 400,000 or more jobs per week. The unemployment estimate is at 9.6%, and is expected to go back above 10%.
Analysts and economists are saying that it will take ten to twelve years for the economy to climb back up out of the hole it has been sliding into during the last eighteen months. Consumers are not spending. Wall Street is expected to lose 80,000 jobs in the next eighteen months. It is unclear how far the unemployment rate will rise when this happens.
Traders on Wall Street need buyers to improve the trading volume, but there are very few buyers, because people are not spending on much of anything these days. Consumer confidence is very low right now, because people who have jobs are clinging to them for dear life, but are afraid of firings and layoffs. Those who do not have jobs are on unemployment benefits, which pay them maybe 1/3 of what they made as employees of their former companies. Others are using extended benefits, or have dropped completely off the rolls. Consumers barely have enough for the basic necessities of life. They aren’t spending. As long as consumers don’t spend, the markets will stay weak.
Related posts:
- Stocks Drop on Weak Data
- Sputtering Stocks Close with a Gain
- Stocks Set for Rebound Today after Jobless Claims Fall
- Stocks Bolstered by Slew of Merger and Acquisitions Activity
- Stocks Set for Mixed Results Today