November a winner despite last-day dip
By Meg Richards
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Stocks sagged yesterday as sliding consumer confidence trumped the latest report on the nation's gross domestic product, which grew at a faster pace than expected. Still, the major indexes ended November with their best monthly performance for the year.
After a modest opening weekend to the holiday shopping season, a fourth straight monthly decline in consumer confidence was the last thing investors wanted to see. But analysts weren't overly alarmed by the selling, noting that it seemed relatively controlled and was typical of the sort of pause stocks often see after Thanksgiving and ahead of the seasonally strong month of December.
"We don't like to see consumer confidence reduced as we go into the Christmas holiday season, but going by what we saw from sales over the weekend, we think sales will be pretty good," said Alfred E. Goldman, chief market strategist with A.G. Edwards & Sons.
Despite the day's lackluster trading, November turned out to be a great month for stocks, with the Dow posting a 3.99 percent advance, the S&P adding 3.86 percent and the Nasdaq surging 6.17 percent. It was the best monthly gain of the year for all three indexes.
Brisk consumer and business spending helped the nation's GDP grow at an annual rate of 3.9 percent during the third quarter, stronger than previously thought. U.S. exports, buoyed by a weaker dollar, also contributed to the overall economic growth.
But consumer sentiment didn't match the bullish GDP data. The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence registered a fourth consecutive decline, to 90.5 from a revised reading of 92.9 in October.
