Stock Market Update -Feb 24th

More of the same choppy action this week with no clear sense of direction yet. The market was down all day Thursday and Friday, then suddenly shot upward in the last half hour on Friday!

HP was one of the few stocks rising this week on good earnings news. However we are still in an overall down trend from last October.


The latest in the housing debacle is that some banks are having a hard time foreclosing on properties because they can't find the paperwork! Mortgages have been re-sold and re-packaged so many times that the paperwork gets lost in the shuffle (see story below -Banks lose...).

The British government finally took over Northern Rock, the London bank that had a run last year when customers started pulling their money out (story below).

Oil made headlines again this week, closing over $100 per barrel for the first time but ending the week around $98. Gold gained almost $50 to close just above $940 per ounce. Food commodities also continued to rise.

Next week: we have a number of economic reports due that will probably influence the market direction one way or the other -still no clear short-term direction.

News Stories:
Banks Lose to Deadbeat Homeowners as Loans Sold in Bonds Vanish
Fannie, Freddie Expected to Post Big Losses
After subprime debacle, U.S. wrestles with question of bank bailouts
Wall St. Banks Confront a String of Write-Downs
Stocks Rally on Word of Ambac Bailout
GMAC Barrels Downhill
Dollar Falls to 3-Week Low Against Euro on Recession Concern
Leveraged Loans Loom Large
Qatar Buys Credit Suisse Shares, Prime Minister Says
U.K. government to nationalize Northern Rock
Earnings previews: Lowe's and Home Depot
Stocks and Indexes mentioned in this blog are for educational and illustration purposes only.

Weekly Market Update -Feb 16th

This week we saw more of the same choppy action in the markets, with little clue of where it might be headed. The action on January 23rd might have signalled a reversal to the up-side, but we haven't seen enough follow-through yet. We are basically still in an overall downtrend.

The Bond insurers continue making news this week, with talks of splitting up into different companies. Warren Buffet also offered to take over the 'good' portions of the bond insurers' business -no takers though.

Oil prices continue the up-trend from last week and is now over $95 per barrel.
Gold retreated a bit, but Platinum soared past $2000!
Commodities continue rising with the index hitting record highs!

Next week the market might give us a better indication of direction. Right now we are still in a downtrend, with an undecided short term direction.

News Stories
Banks at Risk of $203 Billion in Writedowns, Says UBS
Stocks Sink after Bernanke Testimony
Apple Shares Rolling Downhill
GM Report Losses Of $38.7 BILLION in 2007!
Bond insurer FGIC to split business to save itself
AIG says potential derivatives loss not material
AIG's Explanation of Losses Doesn't Ring True: Jonathan Weil
Dollar Has Biggest Weekly Loss in 2008 on Signs Growth Slowing
As Recession Fears Rise Consumer Confidence Falls
Venezuela Cuts Off Oil Shipments to Exxon Mobil
Zimbabwe inflation now 66,000 percent
Stocks and Indexes mentioned in this blog are for educational and illustration purposes only.

Weekly Market Update -Feb 9th

Another negative week in the markets as the selling continues. Stocks gave back most of the gains that were achieved with the two recent interest rate cut announcements!

Cisco shares fell after their earnings announcement.

Oil prices recovered and is back over $90 per barrel again.
Gold also closed higher around $923 on Friday.
Commodity prices continue to rise -see my Commodity Blog for details.

The US Dollar regained some strength as the Euro and British Pound lost ground. We could see the Dollar continue to move up in the near term.

Next week the market could move anywhere! It is in one of those unpredictable areas again. If it breaks down below the mid-January lows, we could continue to see more selling pressure. On the other hand, that level might provide good support for a short term rally. Also note that this is an Option expiration week.

News Stories:
World equity markets lose $5.2 trillion in January
Global Economy Faces `Persisting' Risks, Paulson Says
The Fed isn't fooling anyone
Ambac and MBIA: Bonds, Jane's Bonds
Bush's proposed $3 trillion budget is biggest
Yahoo board to spurn $44B Microsoft bid
Stocks and Indexes mentioned in this blog are for educational and illustration purposes only.

Weekly Market Update -Feb 1st

The Fed cut rates again this week this time by .50 points, causing the market to show some gains on Thursday and Friday -the Fed seems to be in panic mode. The market has shown a nice rebound so far since the first rate cut on Jan 22nd., breaking the downtrend that started on Dec 26th. Housing stocks showed a nice rebound (that doesn't mean that you buy them!), while the Semiconductor and Financial groups also showed a nice rebound.

Google lost almost $60 per share this week on an earnings disappointment -the stock has lost about $200 per share since December. Meanwhile Microsoft made a $44b takeover bid for Yahoo in hopes of competing against Google, and Exxon reported profits of over $40 billion.

Oil prices dropped below $90 per barrel on Friday on recession fears, while Gold also retreated from it's high of $933 per ounce -looks like these commodities may have topped out for now. The US Dollar is again approaching the lows we saw in late November.

For next week I expect the stock market to continue higher in the short term, with all the easy money being thrown around; the trend in the charts also support this view.


News Stories:
Stock markets end the week on an up note
Dollar Approaches Record Low Against Euro After Fed Rate Cuts
Job losses in January raise recession fears
Home prices falling at record rate in November
Wall St rises on tech bid; best week since March '03
Nasdaq Posts Worst January in Its History
Microsoft launches $46 billion hostile bid for Yahoo
Bond-insurer woes may trigger more write-downs
Banks Join to Rescue Bond Insurer Ambac -- Source
S&P says subprime losses may top $265 billion
Merrill Hit With Fraud Charges
Precious metals continue their record surge
Stocks and Indexes mentioned in this blog are for educational and illustration purposes only.