Tech stocks gain ahead of the pack
NEW YORK, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Stocks were mixed in New York Wednesday morning with technology firms making some headway, while the rest of the pack remained flat.
In early afternoon trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average gave up 1.01 points to 13,171.13, off 0.01 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index added 12.22 points to 3,029.20, up 0.41 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 gained 1.51 points to 1,405.59, up 0.12 percent.
The benchmark 10-year treasury fell 17/32 to yield 1.8 percent.
Against the euro, the dollar was $1.2286 from $1.2322 Tuesday. Against the yen, the dollar was 78.88 from 78.73 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei closed at 8,925.04, off 4.84 points, or 0.05 percent.
In London, the FTSE 100 index closed at 5,833.04, off 31.74 points or 0.54 percent.
CPI in July remains flat
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- The Consumer Price Index was unchanged June to July, lowering the 12-month inflation figure to 1.4 percent, the U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday.
For the fourth consecutive month, prices consumers pay for day-to-day items were little changed. The annual inflation rate was 1.7 percent in May, but even that came down in June, the department said.
Core prices, which are closely watched by the U.S. Federal Reserve, were up 0.1 percent from May to June, while the 12-month core price index showed a gain of 2.1 percent.
The Fed's inflation target is 2 percent. Below that, especially close to zero, fears of deflation set in. Inflation higher than 2 percent simply slows spending, especially with a high unemployment rate.
Food and energy costs, meanwhile, are considered volatile and are left out of the equation for what is considered a critical assessment of how much the transitory costs of food and energy are affecting the rest of the economy.
In July, energy costs fell 0.3 percent, helped by a 1.3 percent drop in the price of electricity. Gasoline prices rose 0.3 percent month-to-month, but are down 5.5 percent on a 12-month basis.
Food prices rose 0.1 percent in July following a gain of 0.2 percent in June. On average, food prices have risen 0.12 percent per month since January with the 12-month rise at 2.3 percent.
The price of vehicles fell marginally in July, while clothing prices rose 0.2 percent month-to-month and 3 percent over 12 months.
A 0.5 percent decline in the price of used cars and trucks contrasts with the small increase in the price of new vehicles, but on a 12-month basis new car costs are up 0.8 percent, while used car and truck costs are up 1.1 percent.
Eurozone contracts, 2nd recession feared
LUXEMBOURG, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- The eurozone slid toward a second recession in nearly four years as the economy contracted after stagnating the previous quarter, a European Union agency said.
April-to-June gross domestic product for the 17 countries that use the euro fell 0.2 percent from the first quarter's zero growth, the Eurostat statistics agency said.
Compared with 2011's second quarter, the eurozone's seasonally adjusted GDP fell by 0.4 percent, the agency said in a preliminary "flash" estimate.
Economists said the second-quarter output decline, exacerbated by government budget cuts, meant the eurozone would likely enter a recession the second half of the year, which has already begun.
Economists often define a recession as at least two consecutive quarters of GDP decline.
The eurozone, which started in 1999, entered its first official recession in the third quarter of 2008, Eurostat figures confirmed in January 2009.
Germany, the zone's No. 1 economy, managed 0.3 percent growth, thanks to strong investment and domestic consumption. In the first quarter it grew 0.5 percent.
Germany's growth was no match for No. 3 economy Italy's 0.7 percent contraction and No. 4 economy Spain's 0.4 percent -- countries that have had no economic growth for more than a year.
Greece's economy shrank 6.2 percent, but its figures -- released Monday, a day ahead of the others -- are not directly comparable with those of other eurozone countries because it does not adjust for the effects of seasonality. Greece declined 6.5 percent in the first quarter.
France, the eurozone's second-biggest economy, defied economists' forecasts of contraction and recorded zero growth -- although analysts said a closer look at the figures indicated output had in fact dropped a marginal 0.045 percent but was rounded to zero.
Builder confidence up for four months
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. builder confidence rose for the fourth consecutive month in August, the National Association of Home Builders said Wednesday.
"From the builder's perspective, current sales conditions, sales prospects for the next six months and traffic of prospective buyers are all better than they have been in more than five years," said Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the trade group.
"We have come a long way from the depths of the recession and the outlook appears to be brightening," he said in a statement.
The trade group said Tuesday that the Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index for builder confidence added two points in August to reach 37, putting the index at its highest level since February 2007.
NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said the recovery in the housing market was "still at a very fragile stage."
However, "this fourth consecutive increase in builder confidence provides further evidence of the gradual strengthening that's occurring in many housing markets and providing a needed boost to local economies," he said.
