Today’s news shows stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs) slipping lower on the state of consumer sentiment, the consumer price index, and industrial production, amid further disappointing fourth quarter reports for banking heavyweight J.P. Morgan Chase. U.S. stocks slid on Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 1%, pressured by bank shares after J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) announced fourth quarter loan losses. Mortgage and credit loans sent the banks shares down 2%, reports Reuters. Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLF) holds 11.29% of assets of JP Morgan and is up 5.9% year-to-date.
The Labor Department said the Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% last month after rising 0.4% in November. Consumer prices rose slower in December than analysts expected. November’s modest gains in goods and energy supported this, mostly pointing to signs of a steady interest rate for the time being.
Manufacturing growth in New York State accelerated more rapidly than expected in January on surging new orders and shipments, and employment also improved, the New York Federal Reserve said on Friday, reports Reuters. The New York Fed’s “Empire State” general business conditions index jumped to 15.92 in January from a revised 4.50 in December.
Gregg Robb for MarketWatch reports this is the highest reading for the CPI since September. U.S. economists now expect fourth quarter 2009 enjoyed a 4.9% annual increase in gross domestic product, the strongest quarterly growth rate in three years. Any more expansion is dependent upon renewed consumer spending.
Meanwhile, crude futures weakened in early trading Friday ahead of U.S. industrial production data, which was expected to provide traders with the next clue about the pace of U.S. economic recovery, reports Edward Welsche for The Wall Street Journal. Light, sweet crude for February delivery recently traded 63 cents, or 0.8%, lower at $78.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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