Stock Market Update -May 24th

The market was up on Monday, then backed down to close at about the same level where it started the week. There were concerns about the US debt levels and potential downgrades.

New Unemployment claims for the week came in over 600,000 again, and two more banks were shut down by regulators on Friday (list). Mid week, the FDIC also shut down a large Florida bank.

Commodities: Oil prices continued to rise, closing around $61 per barrel, along with Gold prices, as the US Dollar continues to fall. Bond prices also continued to fall.


Next week we have a short week because of the Memorial day holiday on Monday. Earnings season is pretty much over now, so the market will be mostly news driven. We could get news of a GM bankruptcy later in the week.

Market analysis: If the market doesn't hold at this support level (see chart above), we could see further downside, maybe to the low 800s in the S&P 500.

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