U.S. stocks sink on Europe mixed messages
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange this week. Stocks sank across the U.S. and Europe, the euro fell against the dollar and investors dumped bonds issued by the governments of Spain and Italy. (July 31, 2012) Credit: AP
European leaders Thursday gamely promised to keep tackling the continent's debt crisis. But the markets wanted much more.
Stocks sank across the U.S. and Europe, the euro fell against the dollar and investors dumped bonds issued by the governments of Spain and Italy.
Investors had been expecting more immediate action from the European Central Bank and were disappointed by the plan's lack of details, especially considering the ECB president's pledge last week to do "whatever it takes" to keep the euro intact.
A week later, investors' response was more like: "whatever."
It was the second day in a row that markets were disappointed by a lack of decisive action from a major central bank. On Wednesday, stocks closed lower after the Federal Reserve made only vague promises about its plans for trying to revive the U.S. economy.
"It's more jawboning, it's more copy and paste from last week," said Kenny Polcari, managing director of the brokerage ICAP. "There was no definitive plan."
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 92.18 points to 12,878.88. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.74 percent to 1,365. The Nasdaq composite index lost 0.36 percent to 2,909.77.
Sarra Sounds Off Ep. 35: EI baseball, girls lacrosse and plays of the week On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," we look at East Islip baseball's inspirational comeback story, Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week and Tess Ferguson breaks down the top defensive players in girls lacrosse.
Sarra Sounds Off Ep. 35: EI baseball, girls lacrosse and plays of the week On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," we look at East Islip baseball's inspirational comeback story, Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week and Tess Ferguson breaks down the top defensive players in girls lacrosse.
