More disappointing economic data combined with concerns that the Federal Reserve will decide to raise interest rates in December led to another dismal day on Wall Street. The concern is that not only will an increase affect the rates banks charge each other to borrow, but it will also have an indirect impact on consumers in a number of different ways. The slowing pace of retail spending is also helping send the market in a down direction as discretionary consumer spending fell more than 2%. Oil also fell another 3%.
The Fiscal Times reports-
“Home mortgages, home equity loans and credit cards could all see interest rate hikes following the expected Fed action. Stock and bond prices could be affected as some investors may move to bonds with higher rates, and publicly-traded companies face higher borrowing costs. And the value of the dollar may drop against foreign currencies, raising travel expenses and affecting trade.”
Art Cashin– UBS director of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that-
“Most of the sector’s major benchmarks are in a state of advanced decline, which may mean bad news for the economy as investors await the Federal Reserve’s next move. I’m worried about what we have is a near deflationary free-fall going on in commodities.”
Watch Art Cashin on CNBC below.
Here are the numbers from Friday, 11/13/15 on Wall Street as of 3:00pm EST:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,245.24 (-202.83/ -1.16%)
NASDAQ: 4,927.88 (-77.20 / -1.54%)
S&P 500: 2,023.04 (-22.93/ -1.12%)
