market summary
Close Dow -29.43 at 10,313.36, S&P -5.03 at 1,116.27, Nasdaq -7.92 at 1,850.64: Today, the market gave back a portion of yesterday's gains, with a late sell-off taking the indices to near their lows of the day...the main events were a morning speech by Greenspan in which he said the economy was "gaining traction"...his upbeat comments were partly offset by the release of the Fed's Beige Book in the afternoon, which said that economic conditions were mixed and even softer in some parts of the country...it noted slower consumer spending, but a stronger manufacturing sector...
the result of all this was that the market is still concerned about economic growth, yet quite certain that the Fed will raise rates at the September 21 policy meeting...this wasn't near enough to keep yesterday's rally going...oil prices were of some support, as the October crude futures contract fell another $0.54 to end at $42.77 and continue the recent downtrend...the corporate news was generally bearish...McKesson (MCK 26.98 -4.85), Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE 19.48 -1.11), and Dow Jones (DJ 40.42 -1.38) were a few of the companies issuing earnings warnings...on top of that, Motorola (MOT ) was downgraded by Merrill Lynch...
but the tone was never decidedly bearish and the losses today are reasonable considering the recent gains...volume remained very light...NYSE Adv/Dec 1341/1953, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1164/1914
