Washington DC, FRIDAY - Some U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday (28/12), as the deadline looms on the country's fiscal gap. U.S. consumer confidence index also hit its lowest point in four months.
Stock index futures S & P 500, the benchmark, down in the past five days in a row. The trading Friday, the index fell 8.5 points and were below fair value (fair value). Index futures Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) also dropped 67 points, while Nasdaq 100 index slumped 12.5 points.
The decreasing trend is following the same symptoms that occurred the previous day. On Thursday, the DJIA index tumbled 150 points even before slowly recovered and closed down 18 points from the previous day.
In addition, consumer confidence in the U.S. also fell sharply in December so as to achieve the lowest point since last August. Institute The Conference Board, which measures global consumer confidence index, reported on Thursday, the U.S. consumer confidence index fell to 65.1 this month from 71.5 in November amounted to.
The survey shows that institutions, consumer expectations in U.S. economic conditions in the next six months is at its lowest level since 2011. Lynn Franco, director of the economic indicators of the agency, said it showed the U.S. consumers worried about tax hikes and state budget cuts that would automatically take effect next January 1.
Tax increases and cuts in government spending that would occur if lawmakers in Washington failed to reach an agreement to modify or delay the implementation of these provisions.
Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics institute, said the drop in consumer confidence this month proves that the American people suddenly lose hope with the possibility of tax increases.
Drop in consumer confidence is already starting to feel since a few weeks ago, when the excitement of Christmas shopping is not as high as usual. MasterCard Advisors Spending Pulse report said the rate of sales growth in the two months leading up to Christmas this year is at its lowest since 2008.
Uncertainty in the U.S. are beginning to impact the market in Europe. Benchmark stock index in the UK, the FTSE 100, fell 22.13 points or 0.4 percent at noon London time. While the FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 3.39 points.
Crude oil prices had also dropped on Thursday, before starting to rise again in Friday trading.
"Obviously all the attention leading to Washington, and any news coming out of Washington will determine the movement of the market today," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York, Friday.
Efforts last
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama made a last attempt to avoid the fiscal gap before the deadline Monday night. Obama invites congressional leaders to meet at the White House on Friday night, looking for a deal.
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner also had contacted 241 members of the U.S. House of Republicans to return to Washington to meet on Sunday evening. Hopefully, they will hold a vote to approve or reject the draft new rules in order to avoid a fiscal abyss.
In a conference call on Thursday, several Republican legislators reportedly starting to agree with the plan to increase taxes for the rich layers of U.S. society
0 komentar:
Post a Comment