NST Online Business Times : latest

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 04:42 PM PDT

NEW YORK: US stocks on Wednesday fell sharply after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed may begin to taper bond purchases later this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 206.04 points (1.35 percent) to 15,112.19.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 22.88 points (1.39 percent) to 1,628.93, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 38.98 points (1.12 percent) to 3,443.20.

The Federal Open Market Committee announced that it was keeping its US$85 billion-a-month bond-buying program in place, saying that unemployment remains high and growth is still being held back by government spending cuts.

But during a news conference Bernanke said that "the Committee currently anticipates that it would be appropriate to moderate the monthly pace of purchases later this year" if the economic outlook continues to improve.

"Reality is setting in that the tapering is just around the corner," said Alan Skrainka, chief investment officer for Cornerstone Wealth Management.

"Is it a one-day blip or are people going to be more nervous beyond today's knee-jerk reaction?" wondered Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Morgan Securities.

Big declines were seen from Apple (down 2.0 percent) as well as Dow members The Travelers Company (down 2.2 percent) and United Technologies (down 2.1 percent).

Dish Network rose 0.4 percent after it abandoned its campaign to acquire Sprint Nextel, clearing the way for a Sprint purchase by Japan's SoftBank. Sprint shares fell 4.4 percent.

Sprint competitors AT&T and Verizon fell by 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

FedEx rose 1.1 percent after reporting earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter that came in at US$2.13 per share, topping the US$1.96 per share seen by analysts.

Forest products company Weyerhaeuser sank 3.3 percent to $27.31 after announcing that it sold 29 million common shares at $27.75.

Elan Corp. rose 2.7 percent on reports of possible buyers after shareholders opposed a bid from Royalty Pharma.

Bond prices dived on the Fed news. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury surged to 2.31 percent, up from 2.18 percent late Tuesday, while the 30-year jumped to 3.41 percent from 3.34 percent. Bond prices move inversely to yields.- AFP

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Rabu, 19 Jun 2013

NST Online Business Times : latest

NST Online Business Times : latest

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