8-26 市場動態

U.S. Stocks Fluctuate on Spain Budget Concerns, Jobless Claims

By Kelly Bit - Aug 26, 2010

U.S. stocks fell, a day after theStandard & Poor’s 500 Index halted a four-day slide, as concernabout Spain’s fiscal stability and a slowdown in manufacturingwiped out early gains triggered by a drop in jobless claims.

Guess? Inc. fell 11 percent after its forecast trailedanalyst estimates. Cisco Systems Inc. and Intel Corp. lost themost in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after a court ruledSpain’s method of auditing sales tax was illegal and the FederalReserve Bank of Kansas City said manufacturing growth stalled inthe region.

The S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent to 1,053.85 as of 1:25 p.m. inNew York. The Dow lost 21.8 points, or 0.2 percent, to10,038.26. The number of stocks advancing and declining on U.S.exchanges was nearly even.

The S&P 500 tumbled as much as 14 percent from its 2010high on April 23, amid concern the economic recovery is slowing.Stocks rose yesterday for the first time in five days asinvestors speculated the drop overshot the potential damage froma slowdown in the economy.

Stocks advanced early in the session after applications forjobless benefits fell by 31,000, more than forecast, last week,easing concern American employers are again slashing payrolls asthe economy slows. Claims dropped to 473,000 in the week endedAug. 21, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington.

Spanish Taxes

Shares erased gains after El Economista reported that aSpanish court voided 5.1 billion euros ($6.48 billion) in value-added tax collected in past years, spurring concern that theruling may worsen the European debt crisis.

A spokesman for the government denied the report on ElEconomista’s website. The Spanish government may see “a few 100million euros” in tax revenue delayed after a court ruled thatits system of auditing sales tax was illegal, a spokesman forthe tax agency said.

The Kansas City Fed said manufacturing slowed in August,with no companies reporting month-over-month increases.

Birinyi Associates Inc. lowered its year-end forecast forthe S&P 500 by 7.5 percent to 1,225, saying companies from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to Procter & Gamble Co. are unlikely to erasetheir declines this year.

The new estimate implies a 16 percent advance fromyesterday’s closing price and a full-year increase of 9.9percent. There’s a 20 percent chance the benchmark gauge forU.S. stocks will trade in a range of 1,000 to 1,150, buoyed bycorporate buybacks and mergers while dragged down by slowereconomic growth, according to the report by the research andmoney-management firm founded by Laszlo Birinyi.

Bernanke’s Outlook

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will discuss tomorrow theoutlook for the economy at the central bank’s annual symposiumin Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Fed will be accommodative for a“very, very long time” and inflation will remain “exceedinglylow,” Paul McCulley, managing director at Pacific InvestmentManagement Co., said in an interview today on Bloomberg Radio.

Guess? Inc., the Los Angeles-based clothing designer andretailer, late yesterday reiterated its fiscal 2011 forecast forprofit of $2.80 to $2.85 a share, excluding items. Analysts werelooking for profit of $2.91 for the year ending in January, theaverage of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The shares fell 11percent to $33.85.

Wal-Mart declined 1.1 percent to $50.99. The world’slargest retailer asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block femaleemployees from suing on behalf of as many as 1.5 million womenin what would be the largest gender-bias suit against a privateemployer in U.S. history.

Cephalon Inc. lost 2.3 percent to $56.46 after it announcedFrank Baldino Jr., the company’s founder and chief executiveofficer, will take an immediate leave of absence for medicalreasons.