Stocks Up on Fed's Rate Cut

Fed minutes confirm expectations of higer inflation, slower growth

(NEWSER) - Oil prices kept on pummeling the markets today, and minutes from the Fed's most recent meeting confirmed warnings of higher inflation and lower growth—signaling a pause in rate cuts. "The rise in energy products is going to be the knell for consumer spending," one analyst tells the Wall Street Journal. The Dow ended down 227.49 to 12,601.19, the Nasdaq fell 43.99 to 2,448.27, and the S&P dropped 22.69 to 1,390.71. More»

Dow tumbles below 11K

(NEWSER) - Ben Bernanke didn’t give any sign that the Fed was about to take fresh action to prop up the economy in his speech at Jackson Hole today, sending stocks tumbling. Bernanke said the Fed “is prepared to employ its tools as appropriate to promote a stronger economic recovery,” but added that “the growth fundamentals of the United States do not appear to have been permanently altered,” according to the Wall Street Journal . More»

Falling futures mean we're not out of the woods

(NEWSER) - Global stocks were up early today following an uptick on Wall Street in the wake of the Fed's pledge to keep interest rates low. But it wasn't clear if the rebound would hold. Asia rates climbed and modest hikes marked Britain's FTSE 100 index (up .2%) and Germany's DAX (up .9%), though the CAC-40 in Paris was down .3%, and the the Euro Stoxx 50 index of euro zone blue chips opened higher but was down .4% by mid-morning. More»

Washington better get focused on jobs fast: Paul Krugman

(NEWSER) - For far too long, we’ve been preoccupied with “the wrong worries,” focusing on the deficit when we should have been working on job creation, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Now we’re seeing the fallout from that misguidedness. “Those plunging interest rates and stock prices say that the markets aren’t worried about either US solvency or inflation. They’re worried about US lack of growth.” Unemployment ballooned between 2007 to 2009, and "you need a lot of job growth to make up the lost ground. And that just hasn’t happened,” Krugman notes. More»

(NEWSER) - Stocks dipped today on worse-than-expected information about consumer sentiment, the Wall Street Journal reports. A Reuters index dropped 3 points instead of the anticipated 2-point rise. A downward spiral has been evident since the Fed announced it would not raise interest rates Wednesday. “A day like today has been long overdue,” said an observer. The Dow was off 76.79 and closed 9,321.40. The S&P sank 8.64 to 1,004.09, and the Nasdaq lost 23.83 to end at 1,985.52. More»