Weak Quarter

As the problems overseas keep mounting, the markets seem to be feeling the effects as the close has marked the worst quarter in years. The Dow fell nearly 150 points to 11,153, or 10 percent loss in the fourth quarter (after a slight serge from the blue-chip stocks helped rally it before Friday’s closing bell), which is the largest decline since the first quarter of 2009. The S&P 500 lost 18 points while at the same time the NASDAQ fell 44 points, which marks the worst performances for those two indexes in years. The annual inflation rate in Europe jumped which lead many investors to believe that the European Central Bank won’t be lowering interest rates anytime soon. All these issues along with concerns over China’s growth (data showing that manufacturing activity contracted slightly in September) seem to “put a big wet blanket on the market” as Doug Cote, chief market strategist at ING Investment Management, stated in a report to the Wall Street Journal.

However, all news was not grim. Two positive economic data points did seem to help the markets. According to the Labor Department, the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell heavily last week and in a second report GDP grew at an inflation adjusted annual rate of 1.3% from April to June (as stated by the Commerce Department).

Article submitted by: Charles Stack of the Capital Markets Lab (CML). To learn more about the Capital Markets Lab (CML) please visit https://business.fiu.edu/capital-markets-lab/.