As the markets crumble in Europe, the U.S. stock market stays resiliant.
November 16, 2011- Tuesday saw a number of wide swings in the market. Nevertheless, the market ended with gains as investors tried to balance the announcement of a spike in retail sales in the U.S. with the lingering European debt crisis. The Dow closed 17 points above Monday’s closing numbers.
The Dow was up and down all day. It was down the most at noon when it was in the red by 78 points but had reversed itself to be up 86 points by late afternoon. However, that increase was cut into before the day ended 17 points to the good.
Tech stocks saw the biggest increases as Intel Corp. was up almost 3% just a day after Berkshire’s Warren Buffet announced he had purchased Intel stock. Hewlett-Packard was also up over 3% for the day.
Retail sales made their fifth consecutive monthly increase in October. Americans spent 0.5% more than in September. That increased from month to month was higher than economists had predicted. Just another indication a double dip recession is less likely for the U.S. economy.
Even though the debt crisis in Europe is pressuring the stock market, the report on retail sales helped the market maintain some sort of resiliency on Tuesday. The interest rate hikes on public debt in Spain, Italy and other European countries, hurt the markets in Europe.
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