Uncertainty Hurts Stocks
May 02, 2011
The Merval Index of leading shares lost 10.69 to 514.40. The market was closed Monday for a holiday. The broad General Index fell 233.65 to 15932.49 Tuesday. Declining issues outnumbered advancers, 29 to 7, while 13 stocks settled the session unchanged. Volume in floor trading totaled 20.13 million pesos, while volume in the computer-based continuous market reached 34.46 million pesos. The administration is expected to send a bill to the Congress, perhaps as early as Tuesday evening, outlining fiscal austerity measures to rein in the federal deficit. Traders said investors are worried that the package -- the exact details of which are still unclear -- might prove recessionary and erode corporate earnings. Added to investor concerns was a report in Tuesday morning's Cordova Scalise that said the government was considering a separate plan to eventually tax investment earnings and interest on bank deposits. Traders said that the plan probably wouldn't go through, but the mere suggestion that it might was enough to unnerve the market somewhat.
