Wall Street Pulls Back From Four-Year Highs

Via The New York Times

Wall Street stocks were slightly lower in afternoon trading Tuesday, but the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index set a four-year high earlier in the day on investor hopes that central banks would act in the near future to stimulate their economies.

The S.&P. 500 has risen nearly 3 percent so far in August. But trading volume has been light as investors wait for central banks’ meetings next month, where policy makers are expected to take action to ease Europe’s debt crisis and strengthen the economy.

“I am looking for new highs in the major indexes,” said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at John Thomas Financial in New York. “Over all, there is no one major negative that’s out there right now that people are scared of.”

By early afternoon, the S.&P. 500 was down 0.2 percent, the Dow Jones industrial average was off 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq composite index lost 0.5 percent.

The S.&P. 500 briefly exceeded this year’s high of 1,422.38 points set in April to make a four-year intraday high last reached in May 2008. The index closed at 1,418.13 on Monday.

The Dow, meanwhile, briefly topped its close of May 1, which at 13,279.32 was its highest close since December 2007.

[Full story here]

By in Finance on August 21, 2012