US Stocks fell overnight after surging Oil prices
27 March 2008
US stocks fell overnight after surging oil prices raised fears of a slow down in consumer spending and Oppenheimer & Co analyst, Meredith Whitney, lowered her first-quarter profit forecasts for Citigroup, Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan and Wachovia Corp. Dow currently -1.11%.
The US Commerce Department reported that February new orders for durable goods fell 1.7% (exp. +0.7%). Excluding transportation, durable goods fell 2.6% (exp. -0.4%). Goods excluding military equipment fell in the second consecutive month by 1.6%. Commerce upwardly adjusted durable goods orders in January to 4.7% decline compared with the 5.3% decline it originally reported. Durable orders excluding transportation were revised to a 1.0% drop, an improvement from the 1.6% drop originally reported.
The US Commerce Department said sales of new homes in the US fell to the lowest level in 13 years, sales dropped 1.8% in line with forecasts to an annual pace of 590,000, the least since February 1995.