24 August 2001, 11:06 U.S. share prices were little changed Thursday
afternoon in extremely quiet end-of-summer trade. The Dow industrials were down 47.75 at the close, finishing at 10,229.15. The Nasdaq composite was off 17.04 to 1842.97. The S&P 500 was off 3.22, to 1,162.09.
Credit markets were extremely quiet Thursday as once economic
data, buybacks and Fannie Mae pricings were out of the way, trading came
to a standstill until the June FOMC minutes were released. The minutes
revealed one dissenter, St. Louis Federal Reserve President William
Poole, who said strong money growth was highly stimulative and that the
real Fed funds rate is "likely below equilibrium level." The U.S.
Treasury market dipped on the release of the minutes in a knee-jerk
reaction to the idea of dissension in the ranks. But the minutes went on
to say, "... much of the lagged effects of the Committee's earlier
easing actions had not yet been felt in the economy, and they would be
supplemented in coming quarters by the implementation of the recently
legislated tax cut stimulus." As the words were digested treasuries
came back to previous levels and returned to their state of lethargy.
Earlier, initial claims data showed an increase of 8K. Continuing claims
rose to 3.182 million, a nine-year high.
//MarketNews
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