Wall Street edges down on new euro worries
Warren Meyers, left, works with fellow traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. World markets mostly rose Jan. 11, 2012, on hopes that the U.S. economic recovery will gather pace. (Jan. 10, 2012) Credit: AP
The Dow Jones industrial average crept lower Wednesday as Europe edged closer to a recession that would hurt corporate profits in the United States. The first earnings reports from American companies didn't add much encouragement.
Germany reported its economy, the largest in Europe, shrank slightly at the end of last year. And the European Union revised its figures for economic growth in the third quarter to 0.1 percent, its slowest pace in more than two years.
"Europe is still the main risk," said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial. "Yes, they've been making progress on their budgets, but they clearly have growth problems."
The European Commission also said Hungary has taken "no effective action" to contain its budget deficit.
The Dow dropped 13.02 points, or 0.10 percent, to close at 12,449.45 in another day of light trading. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 40, or 0.03 percent, to 1,292.48. The Nasdaq composite index rose 8.26, or 0.31 percent, to 2,710.76.
The United States depends on Europe to buy about 20 percent of its exports, and concerns about Europe have led analysts to lower their profit estimates for U.S. companies.
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