Markets Open Up
Wall Street opened up on the first day of the last unofficial month of summer, buoyed by optimism for July manufacturing and auto sales numbers due out today.
In the first 15 minutes of trading, the Dow was up 40 points, or a little less than half of 1 percent.
The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were both up about half of 1 percent.
A closely watched index of factory activity in July is expected to show a rise but still indicate an economy in contract.
Also today, July auto sales will be reported, with Ford expected to show its first monthly sales increase in two years.
But remember this: July auto sales are largely a function of the government's "cash for clunkers" program, which means they are being subsidized by government money and are not a sign of organic economic growth.
-- Frank Ahrens
Sign up to get The Ticker on Twitter
By
Frank Ahrens
|
August 3, 2009; 9:52 AM ET
Categories:
The Ticker
| Tags: Dow Jones, ISM, auto sales, cash for clunkers, nasdaq, s&p 500
Save & Share:
Previous: July 31, 2009
Next: July Manufacturing News: Could Be Worse
Posted by: Dermitt | August 3, 2009 10:05 AM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
You are only limited by your profitability and the idea of building national security on the basis of huge financial losses is a no win situation. My clunker is still running and GM is a junker. No national security secret there. Keep riding on air. The kids are.