London blasts send brief shock waves across US stocks and shares |
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Published
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Fri, 22 Jul 2005 13:35
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Thursday’s bomb attacks on London’s transit system sent the Wall Street reeling, as investors grew more anxious and apprehensive, overlooking in their tension good tidings like the Chinese currency revaluation and a much sought after drop in crude oil prices.
Stocks wobbled down at the opening after news of China's currency appreciation, with the industrial average at Dow Jones dropping 61.78 points, and ending at 10,627.37. Likewise, the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 8.20 points, and finished at 1,227.00 while Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 9.97 points, closing at 2,178.60.
Leading US retailer, Wal-Mart, the fastest to respond to China's declaration of a currency float against a range of other currencies, saw its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) slide 1.3 % to $49.32 along with the largest home improvement chain, Home Depot falling 1.6% to $43.27 on the NYSE.
Even shares of stores like Target, The Gap as well as Federated Department Stores tripped with investors anticipating the need of a price rise in certain Chinese items. Concurrently, rates of interest on government bonds also stood up since China is known to be the largest buyer of U.S. bonds and now there were speculations of relatively few purchases.
Peter Cardillo, chief strategist and senior vice president at S.W. Bach, exclaimed at the shivers London blasts had sent across the stocks in the US and said, “I think the London incident gave investors an excuse to take some money off the table after reaching new highs yesterday.
Otherwise, the news was outstanding. The China revaluation is great news, and a step in the right direction. Earnings are coming in better than expected. Oil is down. But London gave the markets some jitters, certainly.”
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