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Stocks bounced out and in of negative territory throughout the day as investors reacted to bleak sales figures from Wal-Mart and the latest consumer spending figures. Let's take a look at the numbers. The Dow Industrial here essentially fat, flat, down about 4 points, while the NASDAQ finished the day up more than half a percent. Crude oil, meanwhile, settled at 58.36 a barrel, that's down more than 2 dollars, but even that couldn't lift the market. In other economic news, the government says that consumer-spending rose by only a tenth of a percent in September. At the same time, income rose by half a percent, which is considered a healthy jump. Incomes were up from August and made their biggest gains since June. September's spending increase was half as large as in August, and was the smallest climb in ten months. Richard.
Wow, what else you got there then, Gerri? That's a pretty good story.
All kinds of numbers, right?
Yeah.
Well, some analysts were pleased with these figures. They point out that there were healthy purchases of big ticket items like cars and appliances in September. What pulled down overall consumer spending was the consumption of so-called non-durable goods, that's like fuel and food. Analysts point out that when you take food and energy prices out of the equation, consumer spending rose last month. But Wall Street did not seem to draw any distinctions here at the lower spending numbers, and a disappointing sales forecast from Wal-Mart weighed on stocks today. And finally, in another consumer news, a new report says consumers are getting hit with bigger fees for bouncing checks and using ATMs. The study from Bankrate.com also found low yields for interest bearing checking accounts, according to Bankrate, the average penalty for bouncing a check is now 27 dollars and 40 cents, which is a record high. Meanwhile, Bankrate says fees for using another bank's ATM set a record for the third straight year, and now averages a dollar 64 cents. To get these numbers, Bankrate looked at account data from the largest banks and thrifts in 25 large US markets. Richard.
Wow, that's, that also from very compelling information and more data we're getting today.
Exactly, well, Richard, Bankrate found that the average yield for an interests bearing checking account is just over a third of a percent, that's the highest since it's been in three years, but still low. Richard, thank you.
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