Post election stock slide keeps going
NEW YORK, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- The post-election slide in U.S. stocks showed no sign of abating Wednesday after the Commerce Department said retail sales fell in October.
Total sales dropped 0.3 percent with automobile sales off 0.5 percent September to October, the government said. The producer price index for the month fell 0.2 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
Although low inflation is welcome, a drop in prices is a sign the recovery is not supporting prices producers need to expand.
The European Union's statistical office Eurostat said Wednesday that industrial production fell 2.5 percent in the eurozone August to September.
In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 57.13 points, or 0.45 percent, to 12,699.05.
The Nasdaq was off 7.90 points, or 0.27 percent, to 2,875.99.
The Standard and Poor's 500 dropped 4.91 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,369.62.
The benchmark 10-year treasury was up 1/32, yielding 1.598 percent.
The euro rose to $1.275 from Tuesday's $1.2704. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 80.18 from 79.39 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was flat, climbing 0.04 percent, 3.68 points, to 8,664.73.
In London, the FTSE 100 index shed 1.11 percent, 64.24, to 5,722.01.
Retail sales slide September to October
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Retail sales dropped 0.3 percent from September to October on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Census Bureau said Wednesday.
Sales for the month totaled $412.6 billion. That's down month-to-month, but up 3.8 percent from October 2011.
The month-to-month gain for September was revised from 1.1 percent to 1.3 percent.
In the August through October period, total sales were up 4.7 percent compared to the same period of 2011, the Census Bureau said.
The bureau said sales of automobiles fell 0.5 percent from September, but rose 5 percent from October 2011. Gas station sales rose 1.4 percent month-to-month, and were up 7.7 percent compared with October 2011.
Non-store sales, which used to mean catalog sales and now means catalog and Internet sales, fell 1.8 percent from the previous month, but climbed 7.2 percent from October 2011, the Census Bureau said.
Crude oil price drops on demand estimate
NEW YORK, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices fell close to $85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as a key industry group lowered its fourth quarter demand estimate.
The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that fourth quarter demand would slow by 290,000 barrels per day to 90.1 million bpd, "reflecting persistent weakness in Europe and the impact of Hurricane Sandy in the United States."
At the same time oil production from non-OPEC countries had rebounded by 840,000 barrels per day in October to 53.4 million bpd, IEA said.
Oil produced by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries declined in the month but only 30,000 barrels per day to 31.5 million bpd, the report said.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil in New York lost 25 cents overnight to $85.13 per barrel. Reformulated blendstock gasoline added 1.96 cents to $2.6734 per gallon overnight. Home heating oil prices added 0.57 cents to $2.9665 per gallon.
Natural gas prices rose 2.3 cents to $3.762 per million British thermal units.
At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline rose to $3.443 per gallon from Tuesday's $3.44, AAA said.
Industrial production drops in Europe
BRUSSELS, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Europe's industrial production dropped 2.5 percent in the eurozone from August to September, the European Union statistical office Eurostat reported Wednesday.
Production was also off 2.3 percent in the 27-member EU, the data branch of the European Commission said.
September's data follows gains of 0.9 percent and 0.5 percent in the 17-nation eurozone and the EU, respectively.
Production of durable consumer goods fell 4.3 percent in the eurozone, the countries that use the euro as currency, after rising 3.9 percent in the previous monthly report. Output of non-durable goods fell 2.8 percent August to September in the eurozone and 2.1 percent in the EU.
Production of energy fell 1.8 percent in the eurozone and 2.6 percent in the EU, the data office said.
Among the 23 countries from which data is available, production rose in four, lead by a 2 percent gain in Estonia. Production fell furthest in Ireland, down 12.6 percent and Portugal, down 12 percent.
Those were the only two countries with double-digit declines.
In the Netherlands, industrial production was unchanged.
