Stocks Mixed on Greenspan Comments, Consumer Confidence

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Stocks ended the session mixed Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the economy has weathered the oil price surge “reasonably well” and consumer confidence suffered its biggest drop in 15 years.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 12.58, or 0.1 percent, to 10,456.21. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.03, or 0 percent, to 1,215.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 5.04, or 0.2 percent, to 2,116.42.


In a speech at a meeting of the National Association for Business Economics in Chicago, Greenspan warned investors that they shouldn’t be lulled into a false sense of security by the economy’s long stretch of low interest rates. But he also emphasized the resilience and flexibility of the economy, especially in the wake of higher oil prices and recent natural disasters.


The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index dropped 18.9 points to 86.6, from a revised reading of 105.5, as Americans worried about the economic fallout of Hurricane Katrina and rising gasoline prices.


Among local companies, shares of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. gained 3.5 percent to $66 after the Pasadena-based firm announced that subsidiary companies were awarded two contracts: one for $137 million to provide design services to upgrade the N6 roadway in central Ireland; the other was from Magnox Electric Limited for reactor site resource enhancement at two reactor sites in the United Kingdom. The value of the second contract was not disclosed.


Ameron International Corp. rose 3.2 percent to $44.45 after the Pasadena-based producer of water transmission lines announced a quarterly dividend of 20 cents per share, payable Nov. 15 to stockholders of record on Oct. 27. A day earlier, the company swung to a third-quarter profit, reversing a year-ago loss that included hefty costs for terminating two executive benefit plans.


Computer Sciences Corp. edged up 1.5 percent to $45.36 after the El Segundo-based company was awarded a $42.3 million contract to provide Web hosting and applications support services for the Defense Technical Information Center. The deal has a four-year base period and one two-year option, which would be worth the full $42.3 million if the option is exercised.


And shares of KB Home fell 1.9 percent to $72 after the Commerce Department said that new-home sales slid a larger-than-expected 9.9 in August. Calabasas-based homebuilder Ryland Group Inc. lost 0.9 percent to $67.42 on the news.

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