Register for E-mail alerts. Comment on articles. Sign up today, it's easy.
Close
The Washington Times Online Edition

Auto news a drag on markets

** FILE ** A Wall Street sign is shown Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008, in New York. ** FILE ** A Wall Street sign is shown Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008, in New York.

UPDATED:

Wall Street initially rebounded from some of its steep losses Tuesday but later gave up some of its gains, apparently because of bad news from the auto industry.

The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 10.6 million vehicles for October was the worst in more than a quarter center and far below the 16 million vehicles sold a year earlier, Autodata Corp. reported.

In November, light vehicle sales for Ford dropped 31 percent, Toyota’s plunged 34 percent and Honda’s plummeted 32 percent.

Related story:Automakers try again for $25 billion

The numbers were released as the Big Three automakers made preparations for a second appearance before Congress later this week to ask for a bailout.

One sign of good news among the carmakers was a statement to the Associated Press by the head of Ford, Alan Mulally, indicating that his company has enough money to see it through to 2010.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average initially regained about a third of its devastating 680-point plunge Monday — a drop of 7.7 percent, the 12th worst percentage decline in market history but the rally later calmed on the auto news.

Toward the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 147.11 to 8299.16, or 1.81 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 18.12 to 1416.19, or 1.30 percent, and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 climbed rose 19.83 to 836.04, or 2.43 percent.

Routine bargain hunting may have had much to do with the rising indexes.

“Markets got oversold yesterday and nobody wanted to get in the ay when it was happening,” Art Hogan, the chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co., told CNNMoney.com. “Lo and behold, we woke up [today] and it looks like we created some bargains.”

The massive sell off Monday wasnt helped by a declaration from the National Bureau of Economic Research, which calls U.S. economic cycles, that the United States has been in recession for a year.

Comments
blog comments powered by Disqus
You Might Also Like
  • ** FILE ** Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich speaks during a news conference on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

    Questions surface on Gingrich campaign travel payments

    By Luke Rosiak - The Washington Times

  • This artist rendering shows Amine El Khalifi before U.S. District Judge T. Rawles Jones Jr. in federal court in Alexandria, Va., Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. El Khalifi, a 29-year-old Moroccan man was arrested Friday near the U.S. Capitol as he was planning to detonate what he thought was a suicide vest, given to him by FBI undercover operatives, said police and government officials. (AP Photo/Dana Verkouteren)

    Terror suspect arrested near U.S. Capitol

    By Tom Howell Jr. - The Washington Times

  • Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Associated Press)

    Justice says Supreme Court should revisit campaign finance

    By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times

  • Happening Now

          Independent voices from the TWT Communities

          Media Migraine

          First over-the-counter column approved for fast and effective relief from even your worst media-induced headache.