European Debt Crisis Continues To Loom Over Stock Market – Acadiana Business Index
Wednesday raised fresh worries about the European debt crisis as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 125 points. Mark Lasseigne has Wednesday's Acadiana Business Index.
- Spain sold fewer bonds than it planned, and at yields that were well above previous auctions. Also weighing on sentiment was a reading of euro-zone business activity in March, which confirmed contraction, as well as a decline in euro-zone retail sales in February.
In corporate news,
- Walgreen sales fell more than expected in March--marking a third straight month of declines. The drug store chain's exit from its contract with Express Scripts continued to hurt sales in its pharmacy section. WAG down 1.6%
- And General Electric declined 1.1% after Moody's Investors Service lowered its credit rating on the blue-chip conglomerate.
- The U.S Energy Department's weekly report showed a 9M barrel increase in US oil inventories -- the biggest weekly gain since 2008 -- on rising US production and falling fuel usage.
- Light sweet crude settled at $101.56 a barrel.
- And, gold plunged to a 12-week low, settled at $1,610 an ounce.
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