Assignment:
Need assistance on answering a few questions on the article illustrated below.
Question 1. Who will benefit from this or in other words what are the positive impacts?
Question 2. Who will not benefit from this or in other words what are the negative impacts?
Question 3. What impact will it have on the personal user or consumer?
Stocks Lower on Rise in Wholesale Prices
Friday February 17, 2:21 pm ET
By Christopher Wang, AP Business Writer
Stocks Edge Lower on Rising Wholesale Prices; Investors Worry About More Interest Rate Hikes
NEW YORK (AP) -- Weakening consumer confidence and a larger-than-forecast rise in wholesale prices left stocks drifting lower Friday as investors took a breather from Wall Street's recent rebound.
The market tapered earlier losses fed by soaring energy prices and a meager profit forecast from Dell Inc. Yet the upswing in the producer price index -- seen as a precursor to consumer-level inflation -- once again sparked concerns about more interest rate increases, a day after one Federal Reserve member said the central bank was close to stopping its string of rate hikes.
Friday's decline was a respite from this week's runup, which carried the Dow Jones industrials about 200 points higher to close at a fresh 4 1/2-year high on Thursday. Whether stocks can press higher is largely pegged on the Fed's opinion of the economy and inflation, said Russ Koesterich, senior portfolio manager at Barclays Global Investments.
"The PPI number is one data point that suggests the Fed is going to go further (with its rate hikes)," Koesterich said. With six weeks before the next Fed policy meeting, "the market is going to pay increasing attention to the implication of (economic) data for inflation."
In midafternoon trading, the Dow fell 1.76, or 0.02 percent, to 11,118.92, after losing as much as 42 points earlier.
Broader stock indicators were also lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 0.90, or 0.07 percent, at 1,288.48, and the Nasdaq composite index slid 5.10, or 0.22 percent, to 2,289.53.
Bonds rose, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.55 percent from 4.59 percent late Thursday. The dollar was mostly lower against most major currencies, while gold prices advanced.
Crude futures rallied after falling below $59 this week. Threats of political unrest in the oil-rich nation of Nigeria sent a barrel of light crude surging $1.42 to $59.88 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Investors digested a 0.3 percent rise in January's PPI, which grew faster than economists' 0.2 percent target. Core PPI -- excluding volatile energy and food prices -- added 0.4 percent, the Labor Department said.
More dampening economic news came from the University of Michigan, which said its consumer-sentiment index for February tumbled 3.8 points to 87.4, well below the consensus estimate of 91.
Dell said its fourth-quarter profit surged 52 percent on computer sales to businesses and overseas customers, but a weak first-quarter outlook prompted Banc of America to lower its rating to "neutral" and sent shares sliding $1.17 to $30.79.
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. posted a threefold jump in quarterly revenue on strong subscriber growth, but its deficit widened as customer-acquisition spending more than doubled. Sirius lost 34 cents to $5.31.
Rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. also said increased marketing costs further depressed its quarterly loss. XM's stock was also rattled by the sudden departure of a board member, who warned about the company's future. XM dropped $2.10 to $21.88.
Time Warner Inc. fell 28 cents to $17.69 following The Wall Street Journal's report that billionaire financier Carl Icahn has shelved plans to split up the media conglomerate after failing to garner shareholder support.
Natural gas utility KeySpan Corp. has put itself up for sale and is seeing bids for more than $6.5 billion, according to The New York Times. Interest from Consolidated Edison Inc. and London's National Grid could launch a bidding war, the Times said. KeySpan jumped $3.86 to $40.04.
Merrill Lynch & Co. has agreed to pay $164 million to settle 23 class-action lawsuits related to its analysts' coverage of Internet companies during the dot-com era. Merrill slumped 88 cents to $75.90.
The market reversed course at midday, with advancing issues overtaking decliners by 9 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange. NYSE volume of 1.03 billion shares was even with the 1.03 billion shares changing hands at the same point Thursday.
Trading activity slowed as traders began heading out for the President's Day weekend. U.S. stock markets will be closed on Monday for the holiday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies added 0.35, or 0.05 percent, to 732.27.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average sank 2.06 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.3 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.11 percent and France's CAC-40 was higher by 0.54 percent.
New York Stock Exchange
Nasdaq Stock Market