Friday, September 30, 2005

News: Stocks Open Lower on Economic Data

U.S. stocks are trading lower Friday as investors keep an eye on a flurry of economic data including consumer spending and personal income.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 7 points, while the S&P 500 is off 0.50 point and the Nasdaq 100 is down 1 point.

On Thursday, a mid-session turnaround lifted the Dow industrials 79 points to 10,552, the Nasdaq Composite rose 25 points to 2,141 and the S&P 500 climbed 10.8 points at 1,227.

Heading into its final day, the Dow industrials have climbed 2.7 percent, the Nasdaq is up 4.1 percent and the S&P is up 3.1 percent during the third quarter.

Front-month crude recently was up 30 cents at $66.99 a barrel while the euro was stronger versus the dollar at $1.2046.

There's a host of economic data scheduled for release Friday, including personal income, consumer spending, consumer sentiment and the Chicago PMI survey.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 and DAX 30 were moderately higher, helped by gains in semiconductor companies after Micron Technology's results, while Japan's Nikkei 225 ended down 0.3 percent, or 42.9 points.

Liberty Global, the overseas cable operator of media magnate John Malone, said it's buying Cablecom, Switzerland's largest cable operator, for $2.19 billion in cash.

The Interpublic Group said that its first-half loss was $139.4 million, or 33 cents a share, compared with a restated $182 million, or 44 cents a share, for the previous year. The company restated its results from 2000 through the nine months ending Sept. 30, 2004, after a review disclosed material weakness in internal controls. The restatement reduced earnings at Sept. 30 by $514 million and cut shareholders' equity by $550 million at the same point. Separately, the company said that it has successfully amended the terms of its $450 million, three-year credit facility with its bank syndicate.

Boeing Co.'s machinists union approved a new three-year contract Thursday, a move that ends their strike and restarts the world's largest aerospace company's jetliner production after almost a month of inactivity.

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