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• Thursday, 29 July 2010

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• September Phenomenon on Wall Street - 31 August 2009

Friday saw Wall Street start the day off on a reasonably high note in response to news from Dell and Intel with regard to the state of the PC market. However, all three major indexes went on to see-saw through the day, until at the end of the day the Dow Jones industrial average closed with a loss of 0.4 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 0.2 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite managed a gain of 0.1 percent, thereby achieving a new 2009 high.

• Market Rallies While Regulatory Structures Questioned - 24 August 2009

Investors are no doubt hopeful that the Wall Street rally of late last week will continue into the coming week, in a time of year which is known to present light trading volumes. The unexpected rally was boosted by a statement from Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke in which he revealed that authorities believe the US economy is approaching a recovery, while at the same time pointing out that economic recovery is likely to be slow, with the rate of unemployment remaining high.

• Dow Jones Under the Spotlight - 17 August 2009

With second quarter corporate earnings coming to an end, it is generally expected that the series of rallies experienced on Wall Street are also likely to come to an end. It has become increasingly clear that the better than expected results from corporate companies have been as a result of aggressive cost-cutting measures, rather than an increase in demand for goods and services. Consumers continue to feel the pressure of job losses and stretched to the limit household budgets. The effect of the recession on consumers was further confirmed by the disappointing July retail sales published last week along with subdued consumer sentiment for August, revealing that aggressive cost-cutting measures are taking place on the home-front as well.

• Market Responds Positively to Fed’s Report - 13 August 2009

Cautious trading on Wall Street prior to the two day meeting of the Federal Reserve, took a positive turn on Wednesday with major indexes rising early in the session, and rising further still in response to the news that the Federal Reserve considered the economy to be "leveling out" as opposed to the previous view that the decline in the economy had been slowing down, but declining nonetheless. The Fed further revealed that interest rates would remain unchanged at a rate of 0-0.25 percent, going on to warn that economic activity will most likely remain weak for some time.

• Wall Street Cautious Ahead of Wednesday’s Fed Report - 11 August 2009

While private sector economists are beginning to express confidence that the end of the recession may very well be in sight for the US, they also acknowledge that economists and policymakers at the Federal Reserve may not share this viewpoint as they meet on Tuesday and Wednesday this week to review the state of the country's economy and other related matters. It is likely that Wall Street will remain cautious ahead of the preliminary report-back from the Fed on Wednesday, although many are of the opinion that signs of economic recovery will start to become evident before the end of the year, and even possibly by the end of the third quarter in September.

• Cash for Clunkers Boosts New Car Sales - 6 August 2009

In an ongoing effort to rejuvenate the U.S. auto manufacturing industry, an additional $2 billion has been allocated to CARS – Car Allowance Rebate System – more commonly referred to as "Cash for Clunkers". This is over and above the amount of $1 billion which was originally allocated to the program, giving consumers between $3,500 and $4,500 on the trade-in of older model gas-guzzling vehicles. Cash for Clunkers not only promotes going green and reducing motorists' carbon footprint, but at the same time is boosting new car sales which have been hard hit by the current recession.

• Investor Confidence Boost Reflected in July Results - 3 August 2009

Investor optimism was boosted on Friday as the month of July drew to a close, with all three major stock market indicators ending on a high note for the month. Data revealed that the economy had shrunk less than expected in the second quarter, and while bearing in mind that the percentages are being measured from a lower base, investor confidence was reflected in the Dow’s 8.6 percent increase, the rise by 7.4 percent for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the Nasdaq composite climb of 7.8 percent for the month – making July 2009 the best the Dow has achieved in twenty years, while the S&P 500 notched up its best performance since 1997.