Stocks Dip on Consumer Income Report News

[joefree1]

Business - AP
AP
Stocks Dip on Consumer Income Report News

1 hour, 18 minutes ago
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By MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK - An unsettling report on consumer incomes set off a spate of profit-taking on Wall Street Monday as investors worried that a tepid economy would erode companies' third-quarter earnings. Another drop in oil prices failed to shake the gloom from the market.

While investors were cheered by the Commerce Department (news - web sites)'s report of a strong rise in consumer spending for July, nearly flat growth in personal incomes and a handful of profit warnings for the third quarter made investors nervous. The news prompted them to cash in their gains following two weeks of advances.

"There's not a lot of resistance here, and you're seeing a little bit of profit taking," said Todd Leone, managing director of equity trading at SG Cowen Securities. "Trading lower is the path of least resistance."

Trading volume was again extremely light as many on Wall Street refused to make large moves until the Republican National Convention concluded without incident. Many investors also awaited the government's August employment report due Friday, hoping for signs that the economy was emerging from a sluggish summer.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=&e=9&u=/ap/20040830/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street

Yikes!


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[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Consumer wages flat...

Consumer spending up on back to school and increased food and energy costs, and they don't know what the employment news will be?

They can't all be habitual glue sniffers, can they?

[still_one]

2. JUST ONCE, I WOULD LIKE A DAY WHEN THE MARKET

goes up or done, the analysts to come out and say we have no idea why it went up or down

[daleo]

3. It's true, this casting about for reasons can get pretty comical.

Real Estate is the same. Housing sales were up/down/flat because it was cold/warm/hot which made people want to shop/enjoy the weather/stay indoors.

[troublemaker]

4. IDOTS! The report explains the stock sell-off, yet look at this

morning's Reuters story on the same report:

Consumer Spending Rebounds Sharply
Monday August 30, 8:43 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer spending rebounded sharply July, government data showed on Monday, erasing the disappointment of June and bolstering hopes that the U.S. economy has recovered from its recent soft spot.

Personal spending rose 0.8 percent, more than making up for a revised 0.2 percent fall in June, the Commerce Department said. The improvement in consumption was actually even larger since June's spending had been initially reported as a 0.7 percent decline.

But personal income advanced at a more modest pace than expected, posting a 0.1 percent rise compared with a 0.2 percent gain the previous month. July's advance was the weakest reading since November 2002.

[LizW]

5. But...Consumer confidence rebounded sharply!

The economy is recovering!!! We're turning the corner!!!!

Oh, and, uh, sorry about those lost jobs......and the flat wages.......and your 401K........oh, and social security.