Red Bluff Daily News

August 23, 2011

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8B Daily News – Tuesday, August 23, 2011 $100* Just for sharing your local shopping and media preferences! Take the Pulse Research survey online only at: www.pulseresearch.com/redbluffdailynews Do it today – Survey will end when enough surveys are completed. *$100 gift certificates will be awarded to four individuals selected at random from among those completing the survey. Those selected may choose any store or business in Tehama County at which to redeem their gift certificate. Individual survey responses will not be shared with any third party. D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY Win WinWin Win You could Stocks inch higher NEW YORK (AP) — It was another day of big swings in the Dow Jones industrial average, but at least Monday ended with a modest gain. The Dow soared 200 points in the morning, an encouraging start after four weeks of losses. By noon that gain shriveled to just 2 points, then came a rise of another 100 in the afternoon. At the end of the day, the Dow closed up 37 points. Compared with the even wilder fluctuations over the past two weeks, Monday's trading looked relatively calm. The Dow has gained or lost at least 200 points eight days in August, including a 419- point plunge last Thurs- day. A downgrade of the U.S. credit rating and fears of a new recession have shaken investors, leaving the Dow down 10 percent this month. Hewlett-Packard Co. rose 3.6 percent, the most of the 30 large companies in the Dow Jones industrial average. H-P sank 20 percent on Friday after saying it planned to sell its PC business and stop selling Wall Street other products. Bank stocks, which have been clobbered over worries about Europe's debt crisis, took another fall. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 2.7 percent. Bank of America lost 7.9 percent, the biggest drop among the 30 Dow com- panies. Analysts at Wells Fargo cut their price tar- get on the stock, citing fears that the U.S. could slip back into a reces- sion. Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor's equity research, cautioned against reading too much into the market's early jump Monday. ''A two- hour rally isn't enough to change the trend,'' Sto- vall said. ''It's natural in a declining market to have some days that run counter to the overall trend.'' The S&P 500 index has lost 13 percent this month, putting the broad market measure on course for its worst August since 1998. After falling four weeks in a row, some stocks are appearing too cheap for investors to pass up, Sto- vall said. Investors are still wor- ried that the U.S. may fall into another reces- sion. Some hope the Fed- eral Reserve may announce some kind of action to help the econo- my when it holds its annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Friday. It was at the same confer- ence a year ago that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted that the central bank would buy Treasury bonds to push interest rates lower. The Dow rose 37 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 10,854.65. The S&P 500 rose 0.29 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,123.82. It had been up as many as 22 points. The Nasdaq rose 3.54 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,345.38. Stocks have fallen for four weeks on signs that the U.S. economy is slowing. The sharpest drops came Thursday with news of weaker manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic states and an increase in the num- ber of people who applied for unemploy- ment benefits. The Chicago Board of Options Exchange's volatility index has soared 68 percent this month. That's a sign investors are anticipating more wide swings in the S&P 500, the index most professional investors use. The index fell 1.4 percent Monday. Treasury bond prices and gold have been ris- ing this month as investors seek refuge from the turmoil in stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dipped below 2 percent last week, a record low. The yield ended the trad- ing day at 2.10 percent Monday. Yields on bonds fall when demand for them increases. Gold rose 2 percent to $1,892. Gold has gained 16 percent so far in August. Six of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose. Telecom stocks rose less than 1 percent, the most of any industry in the index. Boeing Co. rose 1.5 percent after Britain's Royal Air Force said it would buy 14 Chi- nook helicopters for $1.6 billion. Lowe's Cos. rose 1.1 percent. The home improvement retailer said it will buy back up to $5 billion stock over the next two to three years. Last week, Lowe's lowered its sales forecast for the second half of the year as shoppers grow more worried about the economy. No major economic reports came out Mon- day. Later in the week, traders will be sorting through figures on new home sales, chain store sales, durable goods orders and weekly claims for unemployment bene- fits to see if another recession could be on the way. The government will also release revised figures for second-quar- ter economic growth Fri- day. Another significant revision downward could alarm investors. Three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading vol- ume was above average at 4.8 billion. & Concert Series Wednesday Evenings from 5-8 pm • August 24th REFLECTIONS Music inspired by Beatles & Van Morrison Music takes place from 6-8pm On Washington & Pine Streets • FOOD • CRAFTS • NEW VENDORS WEEKLY • FRESH LOCAL PRODUCE Sponsored By: RED BLUFF D NEWSAILY TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Sponsored by Red Bluff/Tehama County Chamber of Commerce Red Bluff City River Park every Sat. 7am-11am

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