Stocks finish down after inflation report
NEW YORK, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Major U.S. stock indexes finished down Friday, caught up in concern over unexpectedly high consumer price inflation.
Some investors feared the increase might present an obstacle to further attempts by the U.S. central bank to inject liquidity into tight credit markets, reports said.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 178.11 points, or 1.32 percent, to close at 13,339.85. The Nasdaq composite was down 32.75, or 1.23 percent, at 2,635.74. The Standard and Poor's 500 Index dropped 20.46, or 1.37 percent, at 1,467.95.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was 701 million shares traded, with 813 stocks advancing and 2,294 declining.
Bonds dropped. The 10-year Treasury note fell 6/32, or $1.88 per $1000 invested, to yield 4.24 percent Friday.
The dollar gained. The euro traded at $1.4435 from $1.4625 late Thursday, while the dollar changed hands at 113.37 yen from 112.22 yen.
Crude oil has another losing day
NEW YORK, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Crude oil futures for January delivery fell another 96 cents Friday to close at $91.27 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Prices hit a low of $90.27 during the session.
It was oil's second straight finish in the red and came after a report that consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in more than two years. This spurred concern that high inflation may hamper U.S. demand.
Natural gas fell 16.80 cents to close at $7.25 per million British thermal units.
Heating oil dropped 68 cents at $2.6079 a gallon.
Reformulated gas was down 3.27 cents at 2.3417 a gallon.
American motorists were paying an average of $2.990 a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline at the pump, a slight increase over Thursday, the AAA said.
Consumer prices surge on high energy cost
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. inflation accelerated at its fastest pace in 10 months in November as consumer prices surged on sharply higher energy costs.
The consumer price index jumped 0.8 percent last month, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday, up sharply from October's 0.3 percent rise and the biggest increase since September 2005.
The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, advanced 0.3 percent, its biggest rise since January.
The data exceeded economists' forecasts of a 0.6 percent index jump and a 0.2 percent core gain.
Greenspan: Recession odds 'clearly rising'
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, told a Washington interviewer the odds of a U.S. recession are "clearly rising."
It's too early to say, but, "We're getting close to stall speed" in economic growth, Greenspan said on National Public Radio.
Greenspan was eager to strike down criticism that the Fed had played a major role in causing the housing problem by keeping interest rates low.
"We've had housing bubbles in two dozen or more countries around the world," he said. "Everybody's long-term rates have gone down."
Greenspan said global forces beyond the Fed's control had led to the U.S. housing meltdown.
