Wall Street closes down

Published August 13, 2006

NEW YORK, Aug 12: Wall Street's major indexes closed down on the week on Friday, as investors braced themselves for fresh updates on inflation in the coming week. In the week to Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4 percent to 11,088.03, while the technology-stacked Nasdaq market closed down 1.3 per cent on the week at 2,057.71.The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 shed 1.0 per cent to 1,266.74.

Traders said the market closed lower Friday, despite a strong 1.4 percent rebound in July retail sales, as investors fretted over US economic growth going forward and inflationary pressures, which have been stoked by rocketing fuel prices.

Next week we'll keep a close eye on energy and there's a lot of inflation data coming up. I don't think the Fed has done (yet) for the rates hikes,observed Art Hogan, an analyst at Jefferies and Co.

Wall Street economists are calling for headline producer price inflation (PPI) to rise 0.3 percent in July and expect “core” PPI to gain 0.2 per cent, following respective gains of 0.5 and 0.2 per cent in June.

Consumer price inflation (CPI) for July meanwhile is anticipated to rise 0.4 per cent following a 0.2 per cent gain in June, while the “core” CPI is seen rising at a similar 0.3 per cent pace as in June.—AFP