The new Wall Street reform bill passed the senate today and is waiting for the President’s signature to make it law. In the bill is a ban on liar’s loans, the development of a new oversight panel of financial regulators charged with the task of keeping watch for problems within the financial system, the newly awarded ability to take down large financial firms and many more rules to impact the U.S. financial system. The Dow Jones Industrial Average—already suffering from a down day with as many as 119 points lost within the first hour of the trading day—remained in the doldrums after the bill was signed.
But it wasn’t necessarily the fault of the Wall Street reform bill that the market was down most of the day. A report released by the Federal Reserve today showed that there was a reduction in the production of consumer goods and nondurable goods in June. As a result, the Dow closed down 7.41 points on Thursday to rest at 10,359.31.
European and Asian markets were all down on Thursday as reports showed that China’s GDP had dropped—the result of a planned economic slowdown by the country’s government.
The Nasdaq lost .76 points to close at 2,249.08 but the S&P 500 managed to rise 1.22 points to close at 1,096.39.
