NEW YORK, April 1 (UPI) -- Investors will keep an eye on pending home sales and construction spending Wednesday, while keeping their ears to the ground concerning news from London.
World leaders gather in Britain for a Group of 20 summit, which may make up in drama what it lacks in results. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he would walk out of the proceedings if talks do not center on concrete regulatory results. In particular, Sarkozy has been pushing for an international regulatory body, a notion rebuffed by the United States and Great Britain, where regulatory cooperation is the order of the day.
Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are also pushing against a U.S. call for more fiscal spending -- a stance that aligns most of Europe against U.S. and Chinese strategies.
U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in London Tuesday for preliminary talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and others, scheduled for Wednesday. In spite of disagreements, Obama said "half-measures" will not do, The Wall Street Journal reported.
"All of us here in London have a responsibility to act with a sense of urgency," Obama said, adding the G-20 heads of state are "not going to agree on every point."
Already rattled by the federal government's rejection of Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp.'s financial viability plans this week, investors were jolted Wednesday morning by an Automatic Data Processing Inc. report that said the United States lost 742,000 jobs February to March. A closely watched S&P Case-Shiller report released Tuesday said U.S. home prices dropped sharply in December, falling 19 percent from a year ago and 2.8 percent from the previous month, both record declines.
Low interest rates and a scramble to find the deals among foreclosed properties may have turned the corner on the housing market, but a construction spending report Wednesday indicated U.S. consumers are still stalled on new building. Most predictions indicated a decline of about 1.5 percent, an improvement over January's 3.1 percent drop. But, U.S. Census Bureau News reported February's decline was a better-than-expected 0.9 percent drop.
Asian markets were mostly higher Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 Average up 2.99 percent and China's Shanghai Composite up 1.5 percent. The Kospi index in South Korea rose 2.3 percent, while Taiwan's Taiex gained 2 percent and India's Sensex rose 0.4 percent.
European markets were mixed in the middle of the day. The FTSE 100 in London gained 0.32 percent, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt fell 0.07 percent. The CAC 40 in Paris shed 9.20 points or 0.33 percent, while the broader DJStoxx 600 gained 0.41 percent.
In Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said the state should not settle for re-training programs for displaced workers, especially in the face of rescued banks she said deserved the same "tough love" as the auto industry got.
Sarkozy seemed intent on a tough love stance, as well. And Germany's Chancellor said she would welcome Obama as an important ally, even though she disagreed with him.
