Stocks ended the day yesterday relatively flat. Major news to process stemmed
from President Obamas 2012 budget proposal. The goal of the proposal is to
reduce the nations growing deficit. Specifically, the President proposed to cut
the long term deficit by $1.1 trillion dollars. A staggering amount and enough
to get the attention of the American public. Many Americans, and even
congressional leaders, are keeping their eyes and ears opened to this proposal
as costly government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are
on the block for reform. Index composites ended the day mixed yesterday but were
positioned better prior to opening bell this morning. Prior to opening bell for
todays trading session, the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 were all posting green
according to market tracking but turned lower in the morning as January retail
sales fell below expectation. The Commerce Department reported that retails
sales rose 0.3% in January but did not reach the anticipated 0.5% increase.
Automobile and auto parts sales also missed the mark with a 0.3% increase that
fell below the forecast of 0.6%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that
Januarys price index for U.S. imports increased 1.5% and U.S. exports rose 1.2%.
The National Association of Homebuilders is expected to release its housing
market index for February, with an anticipated rise from 16 in January to 17
this month. Approaching mid day the major market indexes are all in the red. Dow
has decreased by 32.54 points or 0.27% to 12235.65. Nasdaq is down 10.49 points
or 0.37% to 2806.69. S&P 500 fell 3.63 points or 0.27% to 1328.69. The
Treasuries 10-year yield has decreased 0.0020 to 3.61%. Oil has gained 0.28 to
$85.07 a barrel. The U.S. dollar is down 0.0013 to the Euro at $1.35. Author:
Pamela Frost
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