US stocks end quiet session mixed ahead of presidential election

Source: Agencies  |   2008-11-4  |     ONLINE EDITION

WALL Street ended the calmest session in recent memory with a narrowly mixed performance yesterday as investors looked past a weak reading on the manufacturing sector and focused on the election.

Before finishing essentially flat, the Dow Jones industrials moved in a range of just over 130 points, well below October's average daily swing of 594. While trading was quiet, including the often-volatile final hour, the calm doesn't necessarily mean stocks have carved a definitive bottom analysts said investors weren't making big moves ahead of the election.

Stocks showed no lasting impact from the Institute for Supply Management report that its measure of US manufacturing dropped last month to the lowest level since September 1982 as credit conditions tightened and disruptions remained from Hurricane Ike. The trade group said its index of manufacturing activity fell to 38.9 from 43.5 in September, well below the 41.5 economists predicted, according to Thomson/IFR.

A separate report showed construction spending fell by a smaller-than-expected amount in September as a rebound in nonresidential activity helped offset further weakness in home building. The Commerce Department said construction spending fell by 0.3 percent in September, less than the 0.8 percent decline many economists expected.

Major auto companies reported weak sales for the month of October yesterday as tight credit and nervousness about the economy kept customers away from showrooms. General Motors Corp's US sales plunged 45 percent, Ford Motor Co's sales fell 30 percent, while Toyota Motor Corp's dropped 23 percent.