Last week the US stock market saw its biggest two-day gain of 2012, but Monday’s trading saw a significant decline as investors wait anxiously for announcements expected from central banks later this week. Also making investors nervous are the upcoming NFP report and the Fed announcement which is are both scheduled for this week. The non-farm payroll report is expected to indicate that July’s hiring did little to ameliorate the unemployment crisis in the United States.
Though stocks in some sectors such as telecom services remained on the upswing, others had their recent gains completely obliterated. The S&P 500 Index declined 3.11 points to 1,382.86, while the Dow Jones industrial average declined 19.11 points to 13,056.55. In accordance with falling stocks, consumer sentiments continue to plummet, falling to 72.3 in July from 73.2 in the previous month, according to a reading done by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan.
Though this decreased consumer confidence was actually slightly higher than expected, it indicates consumer belief that even slight improvements in the US economic situation are masking the problems, not truly solving them, which is similar to the case in Europe.