Dartline™ … Closing Thoughts.
November 18, 2009, 4:05 pm … Closing Thoughts … The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed down a mere 0.52 to 1109.80, as the index gained 22.9 percent for the year. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said construction of homes and apartments fell 10.6 percent in October to an annual rate of 529,000, well below the pace of 600,000 that economists polled by Dartline. So what? FREE MONEY POLICIES have given stocks a solid underpinning — The dollar fell against other major currencies, while gold rose. Nothing more to say.
Underreported: Obama was set to leave China on Wednesday after an awkward summit with some achievements but a long list of unfinished business — a result that suggests challenges ahead for the U.S. as it struggles to come to terms with Asia’s increasingly assertive superpower. The president secured a far-ranging framework for cooperation Tuesday with Beijing. But that deal was announced as frictions between the two nations appeared to increase over human rights and economic policy. President Obama and Chinese leader Hu Jintao issued their ambitious statement on cooperation in a clumsy fashion — at a media “availability” where they took no questions, didn’t address each other and exhibited body language that seemed to say they had been frustrated by the entire exercise. Later in the day, at a congressional hearing in Washington, Treasury Secretary Geithner repeated America’s wish list for Chinese economic policy, including a reform of the Chinese currency system (that is, a stronger yuan) and an increase in Chinese imports. But he struck a more moderate tone than past Treasury secretaries. China 21 – USA 3.