Financial markets ponder the unknowns as data suggests economic slowdown

SINGAPORE - Over the past couple of weeks, the market has digested information suggesting that the United States economy could be on a downswing. Softening job data, falling consumer spending, a lower producer price index and falling headline inflation numbers have generally been seen as benign signals for the market.

On Wall Street, despite a negative session on Friday, the Dow Jones index notched up another week of gains as it edged up 1.21 per cent over the five sessions to end at 33,891.94 – its highest close since mid-February.