Stocks Down As Oil Rises

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In general stocks were down today on Wall Street, as soaring oil prices have investors worried about how the skyrocketing costs will affect the beleaguered consumer. Oil went over $119 per barrel, and has showed no real signs of a slowdown as the summer driving season has arrived.

“We’ve melted here, but it isn’t a plunge,” chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. Art Hogan said, “We’re in a day-to-day assessment of how good earnings season is, and right now there’s more bad news than good news — the parade has been less positive than we’ve anticipated.”

Investors are looking closely at every sign from companies about profit, and even the news of several companies coming in around expectations did nothing to inject enthusiasm into the market.

Higher prices seem to indicate that inflation is setting in in earnest, and this leaves a great doubt as to how the Fed will react. With inflation kicking in, it’s very possible that the Fed will not cut interest rates any lower in 2008. Whether that will spell continued doom for the credit market is on everyone’s mind.

More earnings news is expected this week, and all of it will be watched closely by interested parties.

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