Excerpt from: Stock Indices CFDs and Spread Bets
|
 |
| November 03, 2006 | | Spread betting and contracts for differences look to economic news | Spread bets and CFDs should be cautious on the Dow Jones Industrial average. The stock index is down for the fifth day in a row on flat productivity and concerns about a possible Federal Reserve interest rate hike. The News and Observer reports:
Wall Street extended its decline Thursday, dipping lower
after the Labor Department said productivity was flat in the third
quarter while wages rose nearly 4 percent. The data touched off
concerns that the Federal Reserve will continue to wrestle with
inflation, possibly raising interest rates again. The
Dow Jones industrial average posted its first five-day consecutive
decline since June 2005, after the economic news and amid mixed reports
from retailers on October sales, including Wal-Mart, whose forecast for
November sales was the worst in a decade. The economic data,
which showed wage pressure was increasing at the fastest rate in 20
years, rattled investors who have grown concerned that the economy
might be cooling too quickly. Wall Street wants a gradual slowdown so
the Fed will cut interest rates. | | |
|
|
