Major US stock indices registered little change
on Tuesday on relatively low volume as Americans prepare to celebrate
the national holiday of Thanksgiving.
After the holiday, Congress will return to Washington to resume
wrestling over how to avoid the fiscal cliff. Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Tuesday that failure to resolve the
standoff would pose a "substantial threat" to economic recovery.
The fiscal cliff refers to 600 billion dollars in spending cuts
and tax increases that will hit the economy starting in January
unless Democrats and Republicans agree on an alternative path.
Housing data that showed the the number of new-home constructions
unexpectedly climbed to a four-year high in October, a good bit of
economic news.
Tech giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) fell 12 per cent to 11.71 dollars
after announcing it would write down 8.8 billion dollars of the 10.3
billion dollars it paid for software firm Autonomy. HP, until
recently the world's largest PC maker, said the deal had been
completed based on fraudulent information presented by the British
company.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 7.45 points, or
0.06 per cent, to 12,788.51. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index
rose 0.92 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 1,387.81. The technology-heavy
Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.61 points, or 0.02 per cent, to
2,849.39.
The US currency was lower at 78.02 euro cents from 78.23 euro
cents on Monday. The dollar was up against the yen at 81.67 from
81.41 yen on Monday.
