Jobs" decline ratchets investors by Claudia Sonea

Lately worries about a possibly decline in employment that might affect consumer desire to spend were cooled off by Fed's speech. On Monday Wall Street closed a mixed volatile session due to the concern that the Federal Reserve might not lower interest rates as much as it was expected. The fears about housing and credit market weakness that affects economy and diminish consumer spending continue. Investors became more optimistic after Fed's speech on Monday, despite the fact that the officials did not give any specific dates about how the central bank might alter rates. San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart assured that although the economy is storming there are no securities for the investors and the unemployment problem should be considered in a mostly strong batch of retail sales reports. It is obvious that there will be a rate cut; the question is if it will happen by a quarter percentage point or a half percentage point to loosen up the tight credit markets. Scott Fullman, director of investment strategy for I. A. Englander & Co, warns that if the Fed won't reduce rates next week there will be a major sell-off. Stock's indexes fell, even though they had a small gain after Gen. David Petraeus said to Congress that he recommended to President Bush that the draw back U.S. forces from Iraq. Not all the stocks had losses, Bear Stearns Cos. Bear Stearns rose 2 percents and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. rose 33 cents, Apple Inc. rose 3.8 percent and Intel Corp. finished 12 cents at $25.35. Also bond prices rose as stocks' prices fell, while mortgages are expected to fall 25 percent next year. The dollar is losing ground in front of other currencies and the investors might shift to gold which rose sharply lately. The stock market is still unbalanced and it is not sure if Fed should impose a rate cut or not. Stay connected and see where everything is heading.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070910/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street;_ylt=AgkoGTVMEAoPqWsvnDTyTCGs0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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