Index idag 0909

Beige Book report painted a positive picture of manufacturing activity, but also reaffirmed missteps in consumer spending -- nearly all districts reported slowing growth in late July and early August.


U.S. economic growth is picking up after hitting a "soft patch'' earlier this year and oil prices aren't causing inflation to accelerate, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said. Growth may not compensate for federal deficits that are ``troubling'' over time, he said. ``The most recent data suggest that on the whole, the expansion has regained some traction,'' Greenspan said in prepared testimony to the House Budget Committee. ``Despite the rise in oil prices through mid-August, inflation and inflation expectations have eased in recent months.'' Greenspan's remarks suggest the policy-making Open Market Committee will keep raising interest rates at what the FOMC calls a ``measured'' pace. The Fed is expected to raise its target rate by a quarter-point to 1.75 percent Sept. 21, based on the median forecast .


Crude oil futures fell for a fourth day in New York after OPEC's president and Algeria's oil minister said the producer group will increase output to bring down prices. Algeria may add 80,000 barrels a day of production next month and a total of 200,000 barrels a day by the end of 2005, Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil said. Yesterday, OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the group may add 1 million barrels a day to its spare capacity by the end of this year. Crude oil for October delivery fell as much as 28 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $42.49 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $42.56 a barrel at 11 a.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, October crude fell 54 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $42.77 a barrel.



Japanese stocks fell after a Federal Reserve survey showed economic growth slowed in some parts of the U.S. last month. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 0.1 percent to 11,270.74 and the Topix shed 0.2 percent to 1141.89 at 12:32 p.m. in Tokyo. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said economic ``expansion has regained some traction,'' while reiterating his concern about a growing federal budget deficit. U.S. shares fell. Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc.'s Asia-Pacific Index, which tracks more than 900 companies, was little changed at 90.28. Stock benchmarks in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines rose, while those in South Korea, Malaysia, China, Indonesia and Taiwan declined.

The Beige Book report painted a positive picture of manufacturing activity, but also reaffirmed the misstep in consumer spending, as nearly all districts reported slowing growth in late July and early August. July consumer credit surprised to the upside, but the release is not typically a market mover and had little impact on the direction of trading.

Greenspan's familiar themes presented in his discourse gave little impetus to the European markets on Wednesday, which instead took their direction from mixed corporate news. As a result, the main equity indices gave up some of yesterday?s gains: the DAX, CAC-40, and FTSE-100 all fell a marginal 0.1%. There is little to cause a convincing break-out in either direction; active trading and substantive corporate news still resulted in a second broadly flat day. Even though Mr. Greenspan stated that the U.S. economy?s recent soft patch was likely over, there is lingering uncertainty regarding oil prices and global growth. This is bleeding through to the markets, making both the bulls and the bears gun-shy of pushing too aggressively.

DAX Index - stöd 3750 region.

S&P 500 - Stöd 1095/85 area thereafte.

Dow Jones Ind Ave. - stöd 10,050 - 10,000

NDX 100 - stöd 1360/50 area


Nikkei - 11,000 thereafter.

Hang Seng - stöd 12,900 - 12,800.