Trading on Wall Street Expected to Pick Up

L.A. Times Archives

Sept. 11, 2006 12 AM PT

From the Associated Press

After an extended summer vacation, Wall Street is expected to get back to its normal energetic pace this week with the release of August consumer price and retail sales reports.

Trading volume will probably be light the first part of the week, as it was for much of the last month, but will pick up with big economic data including the Commerce Department’s retail sales figures and the Labor Department’s consumer price index in the latter part.

The reports, being released ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 20 meeting on interest rates, are likely to spur trading.

Investors will get a look at how some of the big brokerages are faring as the economy slows, with earnings reports due from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos.

The market will also be waiting to see whether more companies issue warnings about third-quarter profits -- Wall Street was rattled last week by warnings from several home builders, all of which noted a precipitous drop in demand.

Last week, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.6%, the Standards & Poor’s 500 index shed 0.9% and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 1.3%.

The Fed left interest rates unchanged at its last meeting after raising rates 17 straight times. Many on Wall Street worry that the Fed might have overreached in its quest to contain inflation by throwing too much cold water on the economy.

Another factor in last week’s erratic market was a Labor Department report that showed wages rose at a higher-than-expected annual rate of 4.9% in the second quarter. Some analysts haven’t ruled out a resumption of rate hikes by the Fed.

Wall Street will also be watching the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna today to see whether the oil producers decide to adjust output.

Crude oil prices have fallen from highs in July and dropped below $67 a barrel last week, closing at $66.25 on Friday in New York, as domestic inventory figures showed increases and as tensions with Iran over its nuclear ambitions eased. A lighter-than-expected hurricane season has also helped prices fall.

Traders on Wall Street today will mark the fifth anniversary of the terror attacks with a minute of silence before the opening bell.

From the Associated Press

The Week Ahead

Today

* Treasury bill auction

* Quarterly earnings report due from Campbell Soup Co.

* Oil ministers of OPEC nations meet in Vienna to assess production levels.

* Senate Finance Committee holds hearing on the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Tuesday

* Commerce Department reports on international trade for July.

* Sentencing of former Computer Associates International Inc. Chief Executive Sanjay Kumar, who pleaded guilty to obstructing justice in a stock fraud scandal.

* Quarterly earnings reports due from Best Buy Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Kroger Co.

* Senate Energy Committee holds hearing on the BP pipeline in Alaska and oil supply.

Wednesday

* Treasury Department reports on federal budget for August.

* Quarterly earnings report due from Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc.

* Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. speaks on the global economy.

* Senate Banking panels hold hearing on the housing market.

* House Financial Services panel holds hearing on coastal insurance markets.

Thursday

* Labor Department reports on weekly jobless claims.

* Commerce Department reports on retail sales for August.

* Commerce Department reports on business inventories for July.