New York, April 15 (Inditop) After a banking rally the day before, US stocks Tuesday slipped downward by more than 1.5 percent, eroded by US President Barack Obama’s remarks on the economy and dropping confidence in the financial sector, analysts said.
Obama was upbeat about the economy, but warned that “hard times” were still ahead in 2009.
“By no means are we out of the woods just yet. But from where we stand, for the very first time, we are beginning to see glimmers of hope,” Obama said in a wide-ranging economic speech at Georgetown University in Washington.
One analyst, Art Hogan, of Jefferies & Co, told the Wall Street Journal that it didn’t “help the market any” to have the “leader of the free world underscore” the fact that it’s not going to be an easy year.
Financial stocks led the decline, with JP Morgan Chase off 7.8 percent and American Express sliding 10 percent, the Journal reported online.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 137.63 points, or 1.71 percent, to 7,920.18 points. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index shed 17.23 points, or 2.01 percent, to 841.50. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 27.59 points, or 1.67 percent, to 1,625.72.
The US currency rose against the euro to 75.37 euro cents from 74.78 euro cents on Monday. The dollar dropped against the Japanese currency to 98.92 yen from 100.13 yen Monday.
