Signs Signal Pause In Stock Market Rally

Three days of big gains, including the best day for the Dow Jones industrial average in more than two years, look like they'll be followed today by a bit of a pause in the latest stock market rally on Wall Street.

Bloomberg News says stock-index futures are pointing lower this morning — a sign that the S&P 500 and other indices will dip, at least as trading begins in New York later this morning.

According to The Wall Street Journal, investors are weighing "weak economic data from China" and are watching how Spanish government bond sales are going.

The news from China, The Associated Press reports, is that "the world's No. 2 economy is weakening faster than thought." The wire service says that "business surveys released Thursday showed manufacturing contracted in November for the first time in nearly three years."

As we reported Wednesday, markets soared yesterday after the Federal Reserve and other major central banks announced they were going to make it easier for financial institutions in Europe to get dollars — which in turn, it's hoped, will help ease Europe's credit crunch.

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