Wall St skids on mortgage troubles*
From correspondents in New York
August 01, 2007 06:09am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
WALL Street shares tumbled today as news of spreading troubles in the
mortgage sector prompted investors to pull in their horns.
A late selloff nipped an early rally effort helped by signs of moderate
inflation and higher-than-expected profits from the leading US
automaker, General Motors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average handed back its early triple-digit
increase and then sank 155.84 points (1.17 percent) to 13,202.47 at the
closing bell.
The Nasdaq composite plummeted 37.01 points (1.43 per cent) to 2546.27
and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 19.62 points (1.33
per cent) to a preliminary close of 1454.29.
Analysts said the market began to weaken after the lending firm American
Home Mortgage Investment Corp. said it was unable to borrow on its
credit facilities and is struggling to raise money.
"It's again becoming apparent just how disconcerting the underlying
concerns about mortgage lending and corporate borrowing have become,"
said analysts at Briefing.com.