2006年9月15日全球金融市场周报 美国

　　United States 美国

　　Wall Street ended a holiday-shortened week lower as interest rate concerns returned to upset investor confidence. The Dow Jones was 0.6% lower while the technology-biased NASDAQ fell1.3%. Interest rates concerns were reignited by news that US labour costs had grown much more sharply than expected in the second quarter, with higher wages contributing to 4.9% rise in unit labour costs between April and June. Investors had hoped that interest rates had peaked given the weaker economic news flow of recent weeks. In fact, some investors had already begun to look forward to possible rate cuts as early as the New Year. But evidence of a pick up in wage inflation raised the unsettling prospect that the Federal Reserve may still have to raise interest rates further after all in order to stem inflationary pressures.

　　With economic growth clearly slowing, investors are worried that any further rate rises may tip the economy into recession and seriously constrain corporate profitability. Corporate news was fairly quiet. Apple Computer rose on speculation that it was about to launch a new iPod, perhaps with the facility to play feature films downloaded through its iTunes software. However, Intel struggled as its announcement of job cuts and a restructuring plan to boost future profits failed to go as far as many investors had hoped.

　　息口忧虑重燃压抑投资信心，上周华尔街低收。道琼斯指数跌0.6%，偏重科技股的纳斯达克指数则跌1.3%。第二季美国劳工成本升势远较预期急速，工资上升导致第二季单位劳工成本上升4.9%，形成加息忧虑。最近数周经济消息偏软，曾经令投资者憧憬息口已经见顶。事实上，部分投资者甚至已开始预计当局会早至明年初减息。不过，工资回升却令联储局进一步加息以遏止通胀压力的可能性提高。经济增长明显放缓，投资者担心息口若进一步上升，经济就有衰退之虞，令企业盈利能力大受掣肘。

　　企业消息相当淡静。市场猜测

(以上资料全部来源于JF Asset Management)