Stocks had a rough day, opening slightly lower, only to sink sharply following a weak consumer confidence report. But stocks bounced back into positive territory. Consumer confidence sunk to its lowest level in more than two years. Stocks got a bit of a late-day bounce from the release of the Federal Reserve minutes revealed that some committee members advocated another round of Treasury purchases to jumpstart the economy, known as quantitative easing or QE3. Also, home prices rose 3.6% during the second quarter, but still down 5.9% from a year earlier. Tech stocks ended a see-saw day on a mostly upbeat note. Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia and Research In Motion. Micron continued its up-and-down ways, falling 3.2% as Bernstein Research analyst wrote in a note that the recent price increases in DRAM were “likely to be short-lived” and that prices may start to fall through the rest of the year. Implied volatility inched higher on moderate volumes.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Ended a see-saw day on upbeat note
Stocks had a rough day, opening slightly lower, only to sink sharply following a weak consumer confidence report. But stocks bounced back into positive territory. Consumer confidence sunk to its lowest level in more than two years. Stocks got a bit of a late-day bounce from the release of the Federal Reserve minutes revealed that some committee members advocated another round of Treasury purchases to jumpstart the economy, known as quantitative easing or QE3. Also, home prices rose 3.6% during the second quarter, but still down 5.9% from a year earlier. Tech stocks ended a see-saw day on a mostly upbeat note. Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia and Research In Motion. Micron continued its up-and-down ways, falling 3.2% as Bernstein Research analyst wrote in a note that the recent price increases in DRAM were “likely to be short-lived” and that prices may start to fall through the rest of the year. Implied volatility inched higher on moderate volumes.
