Shares end wild day mixed
First Posted:
Shares end wild day mixed
If you looked away Friday, you might have missed a market rally. Or a plunge.
A soothing government report on employment in July eased concerns that the U.S. might slide back into a recession, and the Dow Jones industrial average rose as much as 171 points soon after trading began. But fears that Europe’s growing debt crisis might threaten U.S. banks and the fragile economy ruled Friday.
After its early rise, the Dow fell more than 400 points and was down 243 just before noon.
Stocks have been “like a tether ball being smacked around the pole” by worries about weakening economies around the world, said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist for Standard & Poor’s Equity Research.
Big spike in borrowing
The Federal Reserve says consumers increased their borrowing by $15.5 billion in June. That’s the largest one-month gain since August 2007 and three times the amount borrowed in May.
A category that measures credit card use increased by $5.2 billion. It was only the third increase since September 2008, during the height of the financial crisis.
Borrowing is usually a sign of confidence in the economy. Consumers tend to take on more debt when they feel wealthier. But an increase in credit card debt could also signal that people are falling on harder times.
BofA to pay refunds
Bank of America has started contacting customers who may be entitled to a refund as the result of a class-action settlement over the way it charged overdraft fees.
Bank of America agreed to set up a $410 million fund to settle the lawsuit. The money will be used to pay back customers who were charged overdraft fees as a result of the company’s policy of processing debit card transactions based on the size of the transaction, rather than when the purchases occurred.
Geithner expected to stay
President ’s senior advisers are confident Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will remain in his job even though he hasn’t made his intentions public, an administration official says.
Geithner, 49, previously signaled to White House officials that he was considering leaving the administration once Obama reached an agreement with Congress to raise the federal debt limit.
Honda recalls 1.5M vehicles
Honda is recalling about 1.5 million vehicles in the U.S. to update the software on the automatic transmission to decrease the possibility of transmission damage.
The recall affects certain 2005-2010 4-cylinder Accord, 2007-2010 CR-V and 2005-2008 Element vehicles.
