US

17/12/2008

Markets fell after a stream of weak economic data was announced in November. New home sales, consumer spending and orders for durable goods all fell. The continuing global financial crisis led to investors selling off stocks across the board. There was a rebound towards the end of November following the Federal Reserve’s announcement of two packages specifically aimed at helping consumers, with $800 billion being pledged to bolster markets for loans to homebuyers, students, small businesses and other borrowers. The government bail-out of Citigroup also saw markets rise. Finally, another factor in the late November rally in markets was the announcement of Barack Obama’s nominations of key financial officials as they were seen to be more conservative than anticipated. Financial stocks in particular were beneficiaries of all of these announcements.