Stocks gave ground Thursday as investors were underwhelmed by news of higher consumer spending. By late morning, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 92 points to 13,015. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 10 to 1,400. The Nasdaq slipped 28 to 3,053.
Over the past couple of weeks, with little fanfare, three small brokerages bit the dust due to a dearth of trading activity on the stock markets and a lack of capital in-house. This may not matter much, but it could be the beginning of a wave of failures on Wall Street.
Street Directory recently made the argument that if investors want some degree of price stability, they should buy stocks which have heavy daily trading volumes. But what if an investor prefers the potential of sharp moves up or down that comes with a stock whose normal daily volume is modest?
Goldman Sachs is expected to report a sharp drop in third-quarter earnings early Tuesday, due to a decline in trading activity in a market that's been light on volume for months. Goldman is forecast to report adjusted earnings of $2.28 a share.
Index futures, index options, equity options and security futures are all set to expire Friday in a phenomenon known as the "quadruple witching" hour. It usually signals a time of higher trading volumes and surprises on Wall Street, but this time, investor uncertainty is likely to keep trades low.