Dow now at 10,533, down 11 points.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fluctuated Wednesday as good news on
manufacturing helped offset a decline in commodities prices.
The market got support from a key economic indicator that signaled
growth in the Midwest manufacturing industry for a third straight
month. The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index rose to 60 in December
from 56.1 in November. The report showed that production and new
orders increased and employment improved.
But the market’s gains were held back by a stronger dollar and a
subsequent drop in energy and material stocks. A jump in the dollar
makes commodities, and thus the shares of companies that produce
commodities, less attractive to foreign buyers. It also hurts the
profits of companies that do business overseas.
Some investors have been buying the dollar in recent weeks on the
belief that the economy is improving and the Federal Reserve will
raise interest rates in the next year. That buying interest comes
after a months-long slide in the greenback.
Rock-bottom interest rates have encouraged investors this year to
move out of cash and into riskier assets such as stocks and
commodities that have the potential to earn bigger returns. While a
rise in interest rates would be a sign that the economy is on the
right track, it could hurt the stock market’s advance.
After a 24.7 percent rise in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index this
year, many investors have closed their books and are making few
moves ahead of the start of 2010. Fewer traders in the market can
lead to more volatility.
“We’ve seen oil up and down, the dollar up and down, the market up
and down,” said Frank Ingarra, co-portfolio manager at Hennessy
Funds. “I don’t think we’ll see a major move one way or the
other.”
At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.30, or
roughly unchanged, at 10,545.11. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index
fell 1.09, or 0.1 percent, to 1,125.10, while the Nasdaq composite
index fell 1.76, or 0.1 percent, to 2,286.64.
The ICE Futures U.S. dollar index, which measures the dollar
against other major currencies, rose 0.3 percent. Gold and other
metals fell. Oil prices added 80 cents to $79.67 a barrel on the
New York Mercantile Exchange.
Bond prices were mixed ahead of an auction of seven-year notes, the
last of the government’s issuances this week. In total, the
Treasury is auctioning off $118 billion of new debt. The yield on
the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its
price, rose to 3.81 percent from 3.80 percent Tuesday. Interest
rates on many consumer loans track the yield on the 10-year
Treasury.
There were also plenty of reminders Wednesday that companies are
still hurting from the blows of the recession.
The government was preparing to extend another multibillion loan to
GMAC Financial Services to further stabilize the auto financing
company, according to a person familiar with the matter. GMAC,
instrumental to the operations of automakers General Motors Co. and
Chrysler Group LLC, has already received $12.5 billion in taxpayer
money and is 35 percent owned by the federal government. The
person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions
weren’t complete, said the bailout would be in the range of about
$3 billion.
Meanwhile, health insurer Aetna Inc. said it expects to take a
fourth-quarter charge of up to $65 million to cover the costs of
layoffs and consolidations.
The pullback in stocks added to modest losses on Tuesday when the
market ended a six-day winning streak as reports on home prices and
consumer confidence failed to rally investors. While the reports
showed improvement, they were largely in line with expectations and
painted a picture of a slowly recovering economy.
About three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York
Stock Exchange, where volume came to a low 247 million shares.
In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell
1.48, or 0.2 percent, to 631.70.
Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.9 percent. Britain’s
FTSE 100 fell 0.7 percent, Germany’s DAX index lost 0.9 percent,
and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.6 percent.
