Market briefing---Matt (slow)
NYSE---Deb (fast)
Chicago area manufacture---Carmen (fast)
Currency
Interview: Andrew
as we pointed out today, stocks little changed, kind of mixed. the s&p and the nasdaq surging in the final minutes of trade. now for the latest of what took us where we were at the big board and the nyse is deborah kostroun. deb?
>> well, matt, some of the things we did see, stocks suffering a pretty small drop in trading. we saw the smallest trading range of the year in the s&p 500. trading was pretty slow ahead of the new year’s holiday. we saw volume once again below average and the s&p actually ended the day higher, not much of a concern given that the index has surged 4.5% in the last three weeks. so, the fall that we did see at least midday in the s&p 500 did little damage to december’s reputation as a strong month for stocks . and cyclical stocks , the biggest part of the dow, they fell today. we saw stocks like alcoa, dupont, international paper falling after the huge rally yesterday to their highest levels since the spring and summer of last year. caterpillar is having its best year ever. it’s been rising over 880%. it slipped today after closing off the record high yesterday. caterpillar, by the way, is the second-best performing stock in the dow jones industrial average this year behind, you guessed it, intel. in telecom stocks , those were the best performers in the s&p 500 today, sprint p.c.s. shares were up today, the second-biggest percentage gainer in the s&p 500 because of a company called ubiqitel that sells sprint phone service in california and other western states. they said earnings would be higher than expected as it adds as many as 23,000 new customers. and mcdonald’s today up for a third day. the usda talking about their daily update today. they said there’s a possibility they may announce new rules to contain mad cow disease. and that definitely good news for mcdonald’s and other hamburger chains. leading off with united auto group, it was upgraded by bear stearns. trading volume today was three times heavier than usual in that stock after they said profits at the auto dealer looked more promising as it sells more foreign and luxury brand cars taking market share from g.m., ford, and chrysler. and once again, matt, tomorrow we are open regular hours, however, we’re expecting that lighter-than-average volume we saw today.
>> breaking news pertaining to halliburton shares. the u.s. says it will seek new bids for its fuel delivery contracts in iraq. the pentagon is going to take over halliburton iraqi fuel contracts and it says that the contracts are going to remain at least until―or only, i should say, until replacements can be found. so, halliburton, the pentagon essentially taking over halliburton’s fuel delivery contracts in iraq. halliburton, of course, has been the subject of scrutiny since it was awarded contracts after the war in iraq, certainly because of vice president dick cheney’s former ties with the company. moving on here today as debra mentioned, economic news was our top drag, if you will, on the markets here today. chicago-area manufacturing, consumer confidence and existing home sales all came in below expectations. carmen roberts was tallying the trio and joins us with details.
>> the triumvirate, yes. the reports missed the mark but bu not so much indicated in the economic slowdown. biter cretsmer said the data showed continued and strong and growing economy albeit less momentum than the month before. missing expectation put a dent in investor opttism that the economy is in a sustainable economy.
>> you really have not seen any real pickup, that momentum you usually get after a recession. you see that nice expansion in jobs is not there. and i think people find that disappointing.
>> confidence which had been on the rise slipped from its highest level in 14 months. the conference board survey says the percentage of people who saw work has hard to get rose in december. we are nearly two years into recovery and the economy is just now starting to add jobs. manufacturers have yet to hire many workers after cutting nearly 1.5 million jobs. and checking on manufacturing in the chicago area, today’s report shows it expanding at a slower-than-expected rate. this is the seven months above 50 and that signals growth. economists watched the report for clues about the overall direction for manufacturing in the u.s. the institute of supply management on nationwide manufacturing comes out on friday. and the third report, existing home sales shows people bought homes at an annual rate of 6.1 million with economists expecting 6.3 million. near record-low mortgage rates continue to spur home sales, but the rates would jump if the federal reserve raises rates next year. that is the question. back to you.
>> carmen roberts, thank you very much. in new york, the dollar dropped to a record low against the euro. how many times have you heard me say that over the past month? it fell after chicago-area manufacturing slowed and consumer confidence waned and housing―existing home sales also dipped for the second straight month. demand almost predictably for the dollar declined after a board member of the german central bank said the european central bank’s target rate is appropriate. the e.c.b.’s rate is twice the fed’s 1%, meaning it’s 2%. joining us to discuss the currency markets is andrew dell lan know, based here in new york. the dollar, a new low, andrew. you know, am i going to be saying this headline forever more?
>> yet another new low. it’s likely we see more lows going forward because the dollar is clearly on a slide. it doesn’t take much more than a look at the charts to realize that. and i think that going forward the fundamentals that we’re looking at right now on which the dollar is trading, pretty easy to project the dollar will continue to slide, at least early in the year. we are targeting 30 and above in euro and 100 in the dollar and the yen. we do still continue to think this adjustment is not over. and today was one more step as we do see the dollar adjust.
>> the pace of the dollar’s decline or the euro’s ascent has been sharp. i mean, we have busted through milestones. we’re at 115 in the beginning of november, so we’ve busted through 10 milestones in two months.
>> yeah. there’s been a panic element almost in this move. i think investors, fund managers, etc., are looking at the dollar and seeing this massive current account deficit we’ve discussed before, this huge balance of payments deficit the u.s. is carrying and expecting that the dollar could possibly fall drastically going forward. they don’t want to be exposed to that so they’re hedging away from those. the securities are denominated in u.s. dollars, so of course there is less demand for u.s. dollars from investors. part of that is due to low u.s. interest rates, part due to some political risks, many perceiving that --
>> andrew, i have to cut you off. we’re running out of time.
