DJIA at six-year low stirs new worries
NEW YORK, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Data on housing and prices pushed the Dow Jones industrial average to a six-year low Wednesday, stirring alarm over where the U.S. economy is headed.
The recent housing and price data have considerable shock value. Housing starts in October fell to the lowest number since the figure was first tracked in 1959, while the headline inflation figure fell 1 percent, the largest one-month fall since 1947, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
The DJIA closed Wednesday at 7,997.28, a drop slightly greater than 5 percent. But, breaching the 8,000 barrier carries a psychological message.
"When you break through these kinds of levels, it strongly suggests there's more to go," Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research told The New York Times.
The dropping consumer price index is a strong signal that consumers, who drive two-thirds of the economy, are putting on the brakes.
"It's not simply that (stores) don't have pricing power," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. "It's that they can't sell what they have," he said.
"It's a tough environment, you've got layoffs, you've got bad news, people are worried about banks," said Andrew Brooks, head equity trader at T. Rowe Price. "It's a nervous, anxious market," he said.
Asia-Pacific markets nosedive
TOKYO, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Major Asia-Pacific stock markets closed with big losses Thursday after a steady sell-off in step with a similar disastrous closing overnight on Wall Street.
The Asian rout was led by the 225-stock Nikkei index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The index opened sharply lower on a series of negative developments in the United States, its main market, and never recovered.
The Nikkei lost 570 points, or 6.89 percent, and closed at 7,703.04, the first close below the 8,000 level since Oct. 28, Kyodo news service reported. The Dow Jones industrial average on Wednesday also closed less than the 8,000 level, the first time since March 2003 that happened.
Investors also were concerned about the uncertain fate of the Big Three U.S. automakers if the U.S. Congress refused bailout plan for them, Kyodo said.
Japan's exports fell sharply in October to leave the month with a trade deficit, the Finance Ministry said. The economy already is in a recession.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 517 points, or 4.04 percent, and closed at 12,299.
South Korea's KOSPI was off nearly 7 percent while Australia's All Ordinaries index ended 4.3 percent lower.
Markets in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and India also were headed for a lower close.
Sources: Napolitano for Homeland Security
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- President-elect Barack Obama wants Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to serve as his secretary of Homeland Security, sources told The Washington Post.
The Post said Democratic sources told it late Wednesday Napolitano is Obama's pick because of her expertise in dealing with immigration and national security issues in her state.
Napolitano, 50, who is mid-way through her second term as governor, is on Obama's transition team.
The Post's sources said Napolitano's selection, first reported by CNN, won't be official until she clears vetting.
Gubernatorial spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer said her boss had nothing to say about the possible appointment.
"She's not looking for another job, and the president-elect will announce his Cabinet selection when he's ready to do that," L'Ecuyer said.
Senate GOP prep for fight over Holder
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Republicans say they're gearing up for a fight over the likely pick of Eric Holder as President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for attorney general.
"There are a lot of concerns among Senate GOP members about this selection, if indeed these rumors are true" that Obama tapped Holder as his choice, a senior staffer on the Senate Judiciary Committee told the Los Angeles Times.
Holder, who was former President Bill Clinton's deputy attorney general, was involved in the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, who fled the United States just before the issuance of a criminal indictment in a huge tax fraud case.
The Republican staffer said senators and others on the judiciary panel were unhappy they weren't consulted by the Obama transition team to gauge their feelings about Holder.
"It's strange. No one has reached out to us, members or staff level, so we take this with a certain grain of skepticism," the staffer said.
A Democratic official close to the transition team said inquiries were made about Holder, but mostly among influential Democrats.
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said the Rich pardon concerned him, but he didn't intend to tie up Holder's confirmation over it.
"We're going to take a very, very close look at his record," especially Holder's role in the final days of the Clinton administration, Specter said on MSNBC, "with focus on the Marc Rich pardon, where there had been very, very large contributions" by his wife, Denise Rich.
Schoolboy stops driverless school bus
EDMONTON, Alberta, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A 14-year-old Canadian boy near Edmonton is credited with bringing a runaway school bus to a stop after its driver collapsed.
The bus was carrying about 16 students from 6 to 17 Wednesday morning in Morinville, 20 miles northwest of Edmonton, when the driver suffered an undisclosed medical emergency and slumped from his seat, the Edmonton Sun reported.
The vehicle veered off the road, hit a large mound of dirt and sheered off several fence posts before returning to the road.
Grade 9 student Jesse Thomas scrambled from the back of the bus over fallen children and backpacks and into the driver's seat, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.
"We hit a pile of dirt, we went flying and everyone started screaming," Thomas told the Sun. "I got into the driver's seat because I saw a semi truck coming down the road."
Both the bus and truck stopped in time as Thomas dialed 911.
One student suffered a broken leg and six others suffered scrapes, bumps and bruises, the Edmonton Journal reported. The driver's medical condition wasn't released.
