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10A – Daily News – Saturday, August 14, 2010 NORTH VALLEY MATTRESS MON.-FRI. 9:00-5:30 • SAT. 9:00 -5:00 • CLOSED SUNDAYS 632 Main St., Red Bluff 527-5837 NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks extended their losing streak to four days Friday after a mixed batch of read- ings on consumers further muddled investors’ sense of the economy. Your Choice Brighten Spring Air Choice of firmness: Firm, Plush or Pillowtop King $599.95 Queen $399.95 Full $349.95 ployment benefits for the first time rose last week. Although J.C. Penney The major stock indexes fluctuated throughout the day before closing slightly lower. The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 17 points and has now lost almost 400 over four days. It was a typically slow sum- mer Friday, but only partly due to vacations. Traders who were working had little reason to make any major moves because of economic data that remains confusing. One of the biggest obsta- cles to a strong economic recovery is weak consumer spending. Friday’s reports about consumers’ attitudes and spending didn’t point to a shopping rebound anytime soon. The Commerce Depart- ment said that retail sales rose 0.4 percent in July. That was an improvement after two months of sales declines. But the number was just below economists’ forecast of a gain of 0.5 per- cent. While the report showed strength in auto sales due to buyers’ incen- Barber Shop $ Cheers 600 Open 6 days 570-2304 259 S. Main St. Tractor Supply Center Senior Cuts Recently expanded and moved near Bidwell Elementary License # 525405817 (530) My qualifications include: B.A. in Elementary Education and experience teaching grades K-8. Accepting state pay programs & cash pay, etc. 209-8743 tives, it also showed that consumers are shying away from other purchases. Some better news came from the University of Michigan/Reuters survey of consumer sentiment for the first part of August, which showed consumers are slightly more optimistic. An index based on the survey came in at 69.6, slightly above analysts’ estimates and up from July’s 67.8. But retailer J.C. Penney Co. lowered its earnings forecast for the year, citing expectations that consumer spending will be slow. J.C. Penney joined competitor Kohl’s Corp., which low- ered its earnings outlook on Thursday. These latest reports fell in line with a long string of conflicting data that has left investors unsure about where the economy is head- ed. Consumer spending has remained weak along with the labor market. And there are no signs that employers are ready to start hiring at a pace to help lift the econo- my. On Thursday, the Labor Department said the number of people filing for unem- ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● and Kohl’s were disappoint- ments for investors, second- quarter earnings overall have been strong and com- pany executives are opti- mistic. The split between economic and earnings numbers has added to investors’ murky view of the economy. It contributed to this week’s heavy selling. ‘‘We’re in a fragile mar- ket,’’ said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist, Wee- den & Co. in Greenwich, Conn. He noted that the market’s decline is feeding the lack of confidence among consumers and investors. That inevitably has an impact on the econo- my. The Dow fell 16.80, or 0.2 percent, to 10,303.15. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 4.36, or 0.4 per- cent, to 1,079.25. The Nas- daq composite index fell 16.79, or 0.8 percent, to 2,173.48. Losing stocks were ahead of gainers by almost 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consoli- dated volume came to an extremely light 3.35 billion shares, down from Thurs- Mark's Fitness -Private Personal Training -Public Fitness Classes (Spin & other classes TBD) Opening Sept. 1st WANTED: Fitness Instructors Call: (530) 941-2832 821 Walnut St. China Buffet CHINESE RESTAURANT Open 7 Days A Week Sunday Buffet Special $ 9.99 COUPON China Buffet Lunch Dinner $9.99 $6.99 Monday - Saturday 343 S. 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The Nasdaq composite index had the steepest drop, 5 percent, in part because of a cautious economic out- look from Cisco Systems Inc.’s CEO, John Chambers. He echoed the words used last month by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who called the outlook for the recovery ‘‘unusually uncertain.’’ Cisco, which makes net- working equipment, is seen as an economic bellwether. The Fed’s policy meeting 10 year warranty Stocks fall for 4th day after retail sales report Wall Street safe place for their money. The yield on the Trea- on Tuesday also took a toll on stocks. The central bank noted that the recovery was slowing, and said it would start buying government debt in hopes of lowering interest rates and stimulating lending. However, investors believed the Fed’s moves will have little impact on the economy. Interest rates in the Trea- sury market showed investors’ uneasiness. Rates, which move in the opposite direction from prices, have fallen as investors seek a sury’s 10-year note, which is used to set rates on con- sumer loans including mort- gages, was 2.68 percent Fri- day, down from late Wednesday’s 2.75 percent. A week ago, the yield stood at 2.82 percent, and on Aug. 2, the first trading day of the month, it was 2.97 percent. Philip S. Dow, director of equity strategy at RBC Wealth Management in Minneapolis said much of Friday’s trading was likely coming from high-frequen- cy traders, who used com- plex mathematical models and computers to make money off small differences in stock prices. Many other investors still have a lot of cash on the sidelines while they wait to see where the market is headed, Dow said. Stocks drew some sup- port from the announce- ments of two planned corpo- rate acquisitions. Asset manager Blackstone Group is paying $542.7 million to take power plant owner Dynegy Inc. private. The deal also calls for Black- stone to assume more than $4 billion in Dynegy’s debt. Dynegy will also sell four power plants to NRG Ener- gy Inc. Dynegy rose $1.75, or 63 percent, to $4.53. Black- stone fell 38 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $10.63. And NRG fell 45 cents, or 2 per- cent, to $21.96. IBM Corp. said it’s buy- ing Unica Corp., a market- ing services company, for $480 million. IBM fell 43 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $127.87. Unica more than doubled in price, rising $11.29 to $20.84. J.C. Penney fell 98 cents, or 4.7 percent, to $19.82. Other retailers also fell. Overseas markets were mixed. London’s FTSE-100 index rose 0.2 percent, while Germany’s DAX fell 0.4 percent and the CAC-40 index in Paris fell 0.3 per- cent. Investors in Europe were more concerned with signs of slowing growth in the U.S. than in their own economies. 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