Stocks opened mixed on Tuesday with a surprise announcement from the Peoples
Bank of China. China initiated a quarter percentage point hike in interest rates
raising its benchmark one-year lending rate to 6.31%. The measure, which took
investors by surprise, is a part of Chinas continuing effort to control the
countrys rapid growth. China was not the only country in the spotlight today as
Portugal draws attention to the continuing debt crisis in Europe. Moodys
Investors Service downgrade Portugals debt rating two weeks after the
resignation of Portugals Prime Minister due to uncertainty in the political
outlook of the country. Investors will look for additional indicators to be
revealed regarding the European economy on Thursday when the European Central
Bank is set to meet. On the economic calendar for today investors were
disappointed by the most recent reading on the service sector from the Institute
for Supply Management. Economists anticipated the reading to fall from 59.7 in
February to 59.5 for March but the actual reading fell below expectations at
57.3. The Federal Reserve is expected to release its minutes from the March 15th
policy meeting at 2 p.m. today. At mid day the major market indexes are mixed.
The Dow gained 21.00 points or 0.17% to 12421.03. The Nasdaq rose 13.04 points
or 0.47% to 2802.32. The S&P 500 increased by 3.46 points or 0.26% to 1336.38.
The U.S. Treasuries 10-year yield increased 0.04 to 3.47%. Oil dropped 0.23 to
$108.24 a barrel. Author: Pamela Frost
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