Financial Headline News for Monday 6/13

The Dow barely snapped its long losing streak by gaining a paltry 1.06 today. The Nasdaq was down a little at 4.04 and the S&P was up a tiny .85. It was a slow day with no earnings being released from any major companies.

There was a substantial withdrawal from stock funds in May as investors went over to bonds and foreign stocks.

Rising Prices are causing stock investors angst for the past six weeks.

Here are the top financial stories for today:

1) Stocks Close Mixed; Dow Still Below 12,000- From CNBC

Stocks ended narrowly mixed in a choppy session Monday, after another downgrade of Greece's credit rating offset gains from a flurry of M&A activity and as investors continued to worry over a slowing global recovery ahead of a handful of key economic news throughout the week.

2) Investors withdraw $3B from stock funds in May-From AP
Investors last month withdrew $2.7 billion more than they deposited into stock mutual funds in May, snapping a four-month string of net deposits that began in January, Strategic Insight said on Monday.

Bond funds and funds buying foreign stocks attracted net deposits, as investors became less confident about the U.S. stock market, amid signs that the economic recovery is weakening, the New York-based fund industry consultant said.

Yet investors have put a net $39 billion into U.S. stock funds during the first five months of 2011. That marks a shift in sentiment after investors began withdrawing more than they deposited each month following the stock market meltdown in 2008, while bond funds attracted net deposits. That trend held up long after stock prices began to recover in March 2009.

But May was the first down month for the Standard & Poor's 500 since August 2010. The stock index fell 1.4 percent as investors reacted to disappointing news about the economy, as well as high gas prices, tornadoes and flooding in the South, and the debt crisis in Europe.

3) Rising Prices a Risk - From The Wall Street Journal
For the past six weeks, stock-market investors have had their eyes trained on the sputtering U.S. economy.

Now, some are also beginning to focus on the prospect of a pernicious sidekick: creeping inflation.

It might seem counterintuitive, but some investors see a growing risk that prices will keep rising, even if the economy slows. That is significant because it could dent corporate profits by crimping consumer spending while prices are rising. It also may make it less likely that the Federal Reserve would step in to further help the economy, some investors say.

The rise in inflation has been driven in part by the surge in commodity prices but also extends more broadly into imports from emerging economies like China, India, Brazil and elsewhere, which are still red hot. The prices of a variety of imported goods, including household tools and equipment, housekeeping supplies and apparel, have been rising, due to both commodity and wage inflation in these countries. While many economists expect commodity prices to ease, inflationary pressures may still remain in the system.

Quote of the Day from Dave Ramsey.com:
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