The August Industrial Protection and Capacity Utilization report from the Federal Reserve was released today and showed a disappointing .2 percent increase in industrial production for August. This comes after a .7 percent increase in July that the report states was due to a sharp jump in demand for motor vehicle supplies and parts. Unfortunately, the report also showed a .4 percent decline in consumer goods for the month. You can read all the data here .
Despite the depressing economic news the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 46.24 points to 10,572.73 while the S&P 500 rose 3.97 points to 1,125.07. The Nasdaq climbed 11.55 points to 2,301.32.
European markets were down on Wednesday while Asian markets were mixed. Concern over a rapidly rising Yen prompted attempted control measures by the Japanese government, and allowed the dollar’s value to rise out of its 15-year low against the yen. In April of 1995, the dollar hit an exchange rate of 83.6895 against the yen, and today it reached 83.40. You can see a history of the exchange rate here.
Stocks in the news: Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO), Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT), Enbridge Inc (NYSE: ENB).
