金融英语阅读：华尔街股市-袭击阴霾笼罩,道指跌178点,Nasdaq挫1.6%,标普500跌破千点(一)

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2008:03:31 12:24:42
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

英文： Wall Street shares - Close lower on dollar weakness, terror warnings
Share prices closed near their lowest levels of the day as investors behaved nervously in the face of a plummeting dollar and a new round of FBI warnings about possible terrorist attacks, dealers said.

The DJIA, with NYSE trading curbs in place, closed down 177.98 points at 9,253.79, a new closing low for the year to date.

The S&.P 500 ended down 17.16 at 989.13 and the Nasdaq composite down 23. 82 at1,440.93.

Dealers said the major indices opened lower and spent most of the session in negative territory as todays options expirations lent a note of unpredictability to trading.

The selling remained orderly until around midday when the FBI warning reached the market, setting off feelings of panic.

Dealers said there were warnings about a possible new terror attack in Las Vegas over the upcoming US Independence Day holiday as well as possible plots to use fuel tankers to target Jewish institutions across the US and overseas.

One dealer noted that the threats were not seen as especially credible, but they undermined sentiment nonetheless because investors have been exceptionally fragile and are having trouble sifting through rumors.

In addition to the warnings, investors today also worried about the escalation of violence in the Middle East, weak corporate profits, and the growing crisis of confidence in corporate America.

"No one wanted to hold long positions going into the weekend," said one trader."

Dell closed up 5 cents at 23.98 usd after receiving a new upgrade from Salomon Smith Barney to "buy" from "neutral," noting the stocks valuation.

Qualcomm ended up 21 cents at 26.12 usd after the company said it now expects its third quarter EPS to meet or exceed the high end of its previously announced range of 21-23 cents, ahead of the First Call/Thomson Financial consensus of 22 cents.

IBM finished down 2.83 usd at 68.75 usd after Lehman Brothers reduced its estimates for the companys full-year earnings per share result.

Merck finished down 2.22 usd at 49.98 after a Wall Street Journal report raised questions about accounting methods used at its Merck-Medco unit to book revenues. The method, which is not used by several other top pharmaceutical companies, increased the companys revenues by several billions of dollars in 2001 along, according to the newspaper.

Shares of major wireless players finished sharply lower after Moodys Investor Service said it lowered the ratings for some companies to due to concerns about rapidly decelerating subscriber growth and industry competition, dealers said.

AT&.T Wireless closed down 13 cents at 5.87 usd, Nextel Communications Inc down 26 cents at 3.16 usd, and Sprint PCS unchanged at 4.10.

Brokerages lost early gains to close lower despite a positive new research note from Merrill Lynch. JP Morgan ended down 39 cents at 32.99 usd, Goldman Sachs down 2.15 usd at 70.55.

MetLife closed up 1.15 usd at 29.72 after Morgan Stanley raised its rating on the stock to overweight from equal-weight, primarily due to the sharp decline in share price in recent weeks.

Xerox closed up 1.12 usd at 8.97 after obtaining a new bank loan and after Standard &. Poors affirmed its BB- corporate credit rating on Xerox Corp and related entities and removed them from CreditWatch, where they were placed on April 18.