U.S. stocks begin week by sliding down
NEW YORK, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks fell Monday on fresh attacks against Iraq's oil exporting infrastructure and unusually thin volume.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 72.49 or 0.71 percent to 10,122.52 on a volume of 848 million shares. The Nasdaq composite slipped 25.60 or 1.37 percent to 1,836.49, and the Standard & Poor's 500 lost 8.62 or 0.78 percent to 1,099.15.
Crude-oil prices rose as oil exports from southern Iraq ground to a halt after weekend attacks on pipelines, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Volume is expected to be light all week as much of New York's financial community gets out of town to avoid hassles created by the Republican National Convention.
The 10-year Treasury note declined about 3/8 of a point, or $3.75 for each $1,000 invested, for a 4.18 percent yield.
The dollar rose to 109.91 yen from 109.70, and the euro rose to $1.2065 from $1.2052.
In Tokyo the Nikkei 225 closed at 11,184.53 after falling 2506 or 0.22 percent. In London, the FTSE 100 closed at 4,490.10 after climbing 36.20 or 0.81 percent.
Another big drop for crude prices
NEW YORK, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. crude prices fell nearly $1 Monday as Iraqi oil exports continued to flow despite a recent spate of attacks on oil installations.
It was the sixth consecutive losing session for crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange since mid-August when prices appeared to be on the verge of cracking $50 per barrel.
October crude settled 90 cents lower Monday at $42.28 per barrel, the lowest settlement price in more than a month.
September gasoline slipped 3.6 cents to $1.140 per gallon. Heating oil was off 2.6 cents at $1.119 per gallon.
Homeownership, housing market outlook good
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Members of the Washington-based Homeownership Alliance said Monday the homeownership and the housing markets look rosy for the second half of 2004.
During a call sponsored by the Homeownership Alliance, economists said this year's mortgage and sales record-setting trend and the growing economy would push the housing market up in spite of higher interest rates.
Paul Merski, chief economist for Independent Community Bankers of America, said bankers report a steady business in loans for home construction and for home sales.
Dave Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, said although the apartment market is facing record-high rental vacancy rates, a strong condo market is providing good support to multifamily housing production.
Some economists were more guarded in their optimism. David Berson, chief economist for Fannie Mae, said some geographic areas are reporting affordability declines to lows not seen since the 1980s, but low mortgage rates and record mortgage application levels suggest home sales will remain at record levels for some time.
And Frank Nothaft, chief economist for Freddie Mac, said he expects home equity lending will increase as refinance activity decreases.
Fitch: Improvement seen for credit cards
NEW YORK, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Fitch Ratings in New York said Monday an improvement in both prime and sub-prime sectors are in the cards for the credit card asset-backed sector.
Fitch said it saw the improvement despite the Federal Reserve's latest rate increase.
"July's consumer confidence index showed a 3.3-point surge in consumer sentiment to 106.1, the highest level since June 2002, despite higher interest rates and energy prices," said Richard Drason, director of Fitch Ratings.
"While these latest results are a sign that consumers are seemingly optimistic about the future, any such slowdown in consumer fundamentals could derail such optimism, though Fitch expects consumer credit quality to remain stable," Drason said.
Prime chargeoffs slid 39 basis-points to 6.45 percent for the June collection period, while subprime chargeoffs showed even more pronounced improvement with a 34-basis point drop to 16.68 percent.
Late-stage delinquencies also fell to their lowest level since August 2000 with an eight-basis point decrease to 2.86 percent, Fitch Ratings said.
