U.S. stocks extend gains after Fed move
NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes extended their biggest gains of the year Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates a surprisingly aggressive half-point.
The Dow Jones industrial average advanced 96.98 points, or 0.71 percent, to 13,836.37 in late-morning trading. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index moved up 13.06 points, or 0.86 percent, to 1,532.83.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index added 21.19 points, or 0.80 percent, to 2,672.85.
Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index finished the day up 579.74 points, or 3.67 percent, at 16,381.54.
The Bank of Japan voted 8-1 Wednesday to keep interest rates steady. Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said the central bank wanted to maintain monetary stability due to concerns U.S. economic instability had increased, leading to "uncertainty over the environment surrounding the Japanese economy."
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 19/32, yielding 4.542 percent, while the 30-year bond was down 1 14/32, yielding 4.842 percent.
The U.S. dollar fell to 116.17 yen from 116.23 yen in New York late Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.3954 from $1.3970.
U.S. consumer prices fall 0.1 percent
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. consumer prices fell 0.1 percent in August, the first drop in 10 months, as cheaper energy offset rising food prices, the U.S. Labor Department said.
The August decline, after July's 0.1 percent rise, was the first consumer-price drop since October 2006's 0.4 percent fall, the department said Wednesday.
The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2 percent, the department said.
Overall consumer inflation was up 2 percent, and the core index was up 2.1 percent, from a year earlier.
The U.S. Federal Reserve's assumed comfort zone for annual core inflation is 2 percent.
Energy prices fell 3.2 percent from July, with gasoline prices tumbling 4.9 percent, natural gas prices dropping 4.2 percent and electricity prices holding steady, the department said.
Food and beverage prices rose 0.4 percent, the department said.
Medical care prices rose 0.5 percent, while clothing prices fell 0.5 percent. Education rose 0.3 percent, while recreation fell 0.1 percent.
Housing, which accounts for 40 percent of the price index, was flat.
U.S. housing starts fall 2.6 percent
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. housing starts fell 2.6 percent after tumbling a downwardly adjusted 6.9 percent the month before, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
August's fall to a seasonally adjusted 1.331 million annual units followed July's 1.367 million, which the department originally reported at 1.381 million, down 6.1 percent.
The figures mark housing starts' lowest level since June 1995 and are 19.1 percent below August 2006's level, the department said.
Single-family starts fell 7.1 percent from July to 988,000, their lowest since March 1993, the department said.
Construction of housing with two or more units increased 12.8 percent to 343,000, with groundbreakings of homes with five or more units up 16.5 percent to 311,000, the department said.
Building permits, indicating future activity, tumbled 5.9 percent to a 1.307 million annual rate -- 24.5 percent below August 2006's 1.731 million, the department said.
Regionally, housing starts rose 11.4 percent in the South and 4.2 percent in the Midwest and fell 37.7 percent in the Northeast and 18.4 percent in the West.
Teacher inspired by Buffet gives $128M
NEWTOWN, Pa., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- A retired schoolteacher inspired by billionaire Warren Buffet gave $128 million to a Quaker high school in one of the largest U.S. secondary school gifts ever.
Barbara Dodd Anderson's gift to George School, a 500-student prep school in Newtown, Pa., came about because her father, Columbia University business school Professor David Dodd, invested in Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. when Buffet was starting out.
Dodd, one of Buffet's professors, admitted Buffet to Columbia after Harvard rejected him.
"I would not be who I am today without David Dodd," Buffet told The New York Times after Anderson's donation was announced.
"I'm 75 years old, I have Alzheimer's and I'm probably not going to be around a lot longer," Anderson said to the Times. "So I might as well see the money do some good."
She said Buffett’s own breathtaking donation of $37 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation last year inspired her to make her George School gift.
Anderson, born in June 1932, grew up in New York. Her father enrolled her at George School in 1946, and she graduated four years later. She attended St. Lawrence University and earned a master's degree from Columbia Teachers College before marrying and settling in Fresno, Calif., the Times reported.
