Wall Street shying away from bull-run
Trade today (October 9th) picked up on Wall Street after a slow Monday when activity thinned for the Columbus Day holiday.
US stocks on Monday mostly ended lower, with the technology sector providing a rare ray of light shares in web giant Google hit a new high as the search engine goes from strength to strength despite recent revamps by competitors.
Today, however, stocks picked up across the board, with investors looking more bullish but still uncertain to act in light of uncertainty over the soon to be released Federal Reserve policy meeting minutes from September.
Crude oil futures are among many futures commodities affected by concerns of where the Fed is taking US economy, with prices falling on Monday and then bouncing back today.
Crude futures for November delivery fell 30 cents to $78.72 a barrel yesterday, with expectations rising in relation to imminent boosts to US oil supplies after delayed refinery restarts, but today the price shot back up 89 cents a barrel, reaching as high as $79.91.
The Fed cut interest rates by half a percentage point last month, creating a flurry of investment on Wall Street in response to new credit availability, but the underlying attitude of Bernanke and co is being hotly debated by investors.