[N8 v2.0]

What a great time to be an American!!!


Dow closes at second highest level ever
By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer

Wall Street surged higher Tuesday, carrying the Dow Jones industrials to their second-best close ever, as positive economic data further buoyed a growing sense of optimism among investors. The Dow closed just 53 points away from its record high close.

Stocks, particularly the blue chips, moved higher after the Conference Board said its consumer confidence index for September rose more than expected, reaching 104.5 from a revised reading of 100.2 in August. Analysts forecast the index would rise to 103.

Also bolstering investor enthusiasm was a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond that showed the region's econgfy strengthened this month. The bank's manufacturing index came in at 9 versus 3 in August.

Jack Albin, chief investment officer with Harris Private Bank, said the market's advance reflects widespread investor enthusiasm and a realization that the Federal Reserve might have room to ease short-term interest rates. He pointed to low inflation and the recent nearly 20 percent pullback in oil prices.

"The Fed has a lot more elbow room to lower rates. The Fed could maybe even lower this year."

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow gained 93.58, or 0.81 percent, to 11,669.39. The Dow's advance put it within range of its high of 11,722.98 set in January 2000.

Broader stock indicators also jumped sharply. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose to a five-and-a-half-year high, increasing 9.97, or 0.75 percent, to 1,336.34 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 12.27, or 0.55 percent, to 2,261.34.

Bonds fell after a sharp rally Monday in what was perhaps some profit-taking. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.58 percent from 4.54 percent late Monday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Light crude oil settled down 44 cents at $61.01 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The slide in oil prices this month has given investors optimism that consumer spending will hold up even as the economy slows and help protect corporate profits.

Alfred E. Goldman, chief market strategist at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., doesn't expect the gains will last however.

"I don't think we're going to go up, up and away from here. I think you've got momentum and the magnetism of a new record high for the Dow."

"I would preach a little caution here." Goldman contends that the markets will discount for November's midterm elections by mid-to-late October and that some of the run-up this week could reflect a desire among institutional investors to burnish their third-quarter figures.

"This time of the year you also get some window dressing by institutions and also some short covering," he said. "The bears have not had a lot of a fun."

Bears wouldn't have been surprised by news from Lowe's, which rose 1 cent to $28.85, despite reducing its full-year profit forecast; it warned that a slowdown in the sector was hurting sales of its home-improvement products. Lennar rose 7 cents to $46.95 even after saying its third-quarter profit fell 39 percent amid sluggishness in the sector and the company, one of the country's biggest homebuilders, trimmed its fourth-quarter forecast.

In the technology arena, PMC-Sierra Inc., a maker of communications and storage chips, fell 55 cents or 8.4 percent, to $6 after cutting its third-quarter sales forecast to $114 million to $116 million from $122 million to $124 million.

Innovex Inc., a chip maker, fell 38 cents, or 13.7 percent, to $2.40, after warning its fourth-quarter sales could fall short of expectations.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.72 billion shares, compared with 1.75 billion traded Monday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was up 2.52, or 0.35 percent, at 729.61.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.49 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 closed up 1.30 percent, Germany's DAX index was up 1.00 percent, and France's CAC-40 was up 1.42 percent.

 

[jimmydean]

I thought this was a thread about "Iraq Is 'Cause Celebre' for Extremists", sheesh.

 

[N8 v2.0]

I thought this was a thread about "Iraq Is 'Cause Celebre' for Extremists", sheesh.

no one mentioned Sean Penn

 

[$tinkle]

& we have elections in 5 weeks...coincidence? i think not.

i just really do appreciate germany & france playing along, however:

Germany's DAX index was up 1.00 percent, and France's CAC-40 was up 1.42 percent.

 

[blue]

And the gap between the rich and everyone else widens even more.

Trickle down trickle down let the money trickle down...

 

[Silver]

So, to review, the stock market is almost back at the level it was before Bush was president?

Huzzah!

 

[Changleen]

The stock market is looking forwards to the republicons taking a good kicking at the polls in Nov.

 

[H8R]

The people making the money are still making the money. That's all that matters.

 

[MMike]

Funny...I keep hearing that consumer confidence is on the way down......

 

[BurlyShirley]

Funny...I keep hearing that consumer confidence is on the way down......

Just keep hacking that Taiga Canada. Dont worry about it.

 

[SofaKingBanned]

And the gap between the rich and everyone else widens even more.

Trickle down trickle down let the money trickle down...

People who create jobs deserve to be compensated.

 

[blue]

People who create jobs deserve to be compensated.

Yes. Even more so than before!

I best be telling all of my friends down at the gentlemen's club about your novel and exciting idea!

 

[DaveW]

People who create jobs deserve to be compensated.

Would this have anything to do with all the outsourcing of jobs to the 3rd world that's been going on in the States?

 

[N8 v2.0]

Clearly another example of "Good news for America is Bad News for Liberals"...

 

[N8 v2.0]

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=^DJI&t=1d

WOW!!!

 

[N8 v2.0]

Sales of new homes jump in August
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

Sales of new homes posted the biggest increase in five months in August, raising hopes that the steep slide in the housing industry may be leveling off.

Sales of new single-family homes increased by 4.1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.05 million units, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. It was the biggest increase since an 8 percent gain in March.

The August rise followed a 7.5 percent plunge in sales in July, which had registered the third straight decline.

The gain was far better than the 3 percent decline economists had been expecting and could signal that housing is beginning to level off after a steep slide. However, the price of homes sold in August fell to $237,000, down 1.3 percent from August 2005. It was the biggest year-over-year price decline in more than three years.

From 2001 through 2005, housing enjoyed five consecutive years of record sales, propelled by the lowest mortgage rates in more than four decades.

However, this year sales have been falling as mortgage rates rose and the economy slowed. The drop in sales and construction of new homes has been so sharp that some economists have worried that it could plunge the country into a recession.

But other analysts argue that recent declines in mortgage rates should help put a floor on the housing decline.

The increase in new home sales contrasted with earlier reports showing that sales of existing homes fell in August for a fifth straight month while construction of new homes and apartments dropped by a sharp 6 percent last month.

Sales of new homes were up in every region of the country except the West, where they dropped a sharp 17.7 percent. Sales rose 21.7 percent in the Northeast, 12.2 percent in the Midwest and 11.1 percent in the South.

In other economic news, the Commerce Department reported that orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods fell for a second consecutive month in August, marking the first back-to-back declines in more than two years.

Demand for durable goods dropped 0.5 percent last month to $209.7 billion. The $1 billion drop from July, when orders had fallen an even bigger 2.7 percent, reflected a plunge in demand for computers and other electronic products.

The August performance was worse than had been expected and was certain to raise concerns about whether weakness in manufacturing could contribute to a bigger slowdown in overall economic growth.

For August, demand for computers and electronic products dropped by 4.7 percent or $1.5 billion.

Demand for cars, airplanes and other transportation products was up 3.7 percent, as strength in autos offset further weakness in commercial aircraft.

Demand for motor vehicles rose by 4.4 percent last month while orders for commercial aircraft fell by 21.9 percent. Orders for military aircraft rose by 9.8 percent.

Excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders were down 2 percent, the biggest setback in this category in 13 months.

Orders for non-defense capital goods, considered a good indication of company plans to expand and modernize, fell by 3.5 percent last month after a 0.6 percent decline in July.

 

[narlus]

ha, sales went up because prices went down:

However, the price of homes sold in August fell to $237,000, down 1.3 percent

our local market is definitely correcting...

Mass. home prices fall 6.1% as downturn gathers speed

By Kimberly Blanton, Globe Staff | September 26, 2006

The downturn in the Massachusetts housing market gained momentum in August, with the median price of a single-family home falling 6.1 percent, to $352,000, and the number of sales down 21.6 percent from last year, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said yesterday.

The condominium market, which had remained steady for most of the year even as the single-family market slipped, also felt the effects of the slowdown. The median condo price fell 3.3 percent in August, to $278,000, and sales fell 18.5 percent.

While sales volume has been in a freefall for months, price declines began showing greater momentum during the summer and are expected to continue into the fall.

``Things are not over in terms of the price declines," said David Iaia, a senior principal for Global Insight, a Lexington economics consulting firm. He said sellers will feel more pressure this fall to drop their prices on homes that have been on the market for more than three months, on average.

Iaia said the state's price declines would continue in 2007 and possibly into 2008, though it is difficult to predict. ``I don't think you'll get a good sense of the impact until next spring," he said.
Video NECN: Bay State housing takes a downturn

``Now you're at the end of the major selling season, and people who've had their house on the market all summer and haven't sold it are getting concerned, so there are probably more price declines coming this fall," he said.

The real estate market is slowing across the country, although not as dramatically as in Massachusetts. The National Association of Realtors said yesterday that existing homes -- including single-families, condos, and townhouses -- sold at a rate of 6.3 million units in August, 12.6 percent lower than last year. Prices for all types of homes fell 1.7 percent in August, to $225,000.

The interest rate on the conventional 30-year mortgage is 6.4 percent, said Freddie Mac, the federal agency that backs the mortgage market. Higher interest rates have contributed to the cooling real estate market nationwide.

Massachusetts experienced the most price appreciation of any state between 2000 and 2003, and the appreciation continued over the next two years and pushed sales and prices to record levels. The downturn is now in full swing, analysts and agents said.

The August price slide was confirmed in a second report yesterday by the Warren Group, a Boston real estate and publishing firm that compiles market data. Warren Group said the median single-family price declined 8 percent, to $331,000, as sales dropped almost 20 percent. Condo priced fell 5 percent, to $276,000, as sales declined 19.3 percent.

Both the Warren Group and the realtors base their monthly report on actual sales closings in August, but their data sources are different. The realtor association sales and price data are based on house-listings posted in the multiple listing service, an agents' database, while Warren's data is culled from court records on home-sale closings statewide

David Wluka, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, blamed soaring appreciation during the boom for making it difficult or impossible for many first-time buyers to afford a single-family house. Without them, homeowners are unable to sell when they want to trade up.

High prices are "creating a clog in the system," he said. "People trying to buy houses can't buy until they sell houses they own, and unless they price houses they own correctly they're not going to sell."

He said he has witnessed this at this phenomenon with some clients of his firm, Wluka Real Estate Corp. in Sharon. "I also see buyers holding back and waiting for the bottom, but you can only see the bottom in the rear-view mirror," he said. Buyers "need to bargain hard," because ``they're in a very powerful position."

Wluka predicted prices could stabilize this fall, if homeowners who aren't serious enough about selling to reduce their prices take their houses off the market.

Since February 2005, single-family sales, when compared with a year earlier, have declined all but one month, according to Warren Group. But price declines, which were delayed until the spring of 2006, have accelerated. In March, for example, the median house price fell 1.52 percent. By June, they were down 9.3 percent, followed by a 6.1 percent drop in July and 8.1 percent in August.