Today’s news stories appear unsettling at best…..
Stocks Fall Sharply on Fed Minutes, International Worries
NEW YORK — Stocks tumbled on Tuesday as fresh clashes between North Korea and South Korea, uncertainty about the depth of the euro-zone debt crisis and a lower economic outlook from the Federal Reserve dealt a blow to investor sentiment.n ongoing insider-trading probe widened to include more hedge funds on Tuesday, also adding to market jitters.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 142 points, or 1.3%, to 11,036. The S&P 500 finished lower by 17 points, or 1.4%, to 1181, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 37 points, or 1.5%, to 2494.
U.S. investors woke up to news that North Korea fired roughly 100 artillery shells at a South Korean island Tuesday, killing at least two marines and wounding others, according to news reports.
Meanwhile, investors continued to worry that the debt crisis in Ireland would spill over to Portugal and Spain. German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the prospects of serial European bailouts was “exceptionally serious”, sending the euro to a three-month low, Bloomberg News reported. The spread of Spanish bonds over German counterparts rose to a record euro-era high, the report noted. Investors worried that Spain and Portugal will be next in line for a crisis. In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.7% while Japan’s Nikkei added 0.9%.
Fed lowers growth expectations
DAVID BERMAN
The Federal Reserve released the minutes from its monetary policy meeting earlier this month. Here are a few snippets from the 20-page report, including new projections for the economy in 2010 and beyond. I’ll have more from the experts when they weigh in.
On the health of the economic recovery: “The information reviewed at the November 2-3 meeting indicated that the economic recovery proceeded at a modest rate in recent months, with only a gradual improvement in labor market conditions, and was accompanied by a continued low rate of inflation.”
Housing stocks down on home
resale data
Homebuilder shares fall after sales of previously owned homes dropped in October
NEW YORK (AP) — Homebuilder stocks mostly dropped Tuesday after an industry report signaled that home sales are faltering under the weight of high unemployment and tight credit.
Sales of previously owned homes fell 2.2 percent last month from September, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. That was a weaker showing than expected and follows two straight months of increases after the rate plunged to a 15-year low in July.
The group’s economist also forecast that sales of existing homes for the year would total 4.8 million sales, which is 7 percent below last year’s pace and would be the worst performance since 1997.
The figures underscore a housing market that can’t recover without government incentives. Home sales got a boost earlier this year when the government offered tax credits for homebuyers. Since they expired in April, home sales have suffered.
Canadian Inflation rate in October outpaces economic forecasts
TAVIA GRANT, MARINA STRAUSS AND JEREMY TOROBIN
From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010 7:10AM EST
Last updated Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010 7:21PM EST
Canadian inflation rate roared back to life last month, as broad gains in gasoline, electricity and postal services pushed consumer price increases to the fastest clip in two years.
Consumer prices rose 2.4 per cent from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said Tuesday, topping all economists’ forecasts. Less volatile core prices, which the Bank of Canada uses to discern future inflation trends, quickened to 1.8 per cent in October from 1.5 per cent in September
