Stock Market Blog -Feb 28th

After options expiration on the previous Friday, the market pulled back this week, then rallied back a bit on Friday. Bonds rallied too, along with Crude oil and Gold.

All time highs: APKT, CVX, DTV,
OVTI popped on earnings.
HPQ and WMT dropped on earnings.

New unemployment claims were back down to 391,000! (chart).
This week, another bank was shut down by the FDIC! (list).

Next week: (Economic reports link). Monthly jobs report on Friday -a potential market mover.

Market commentary: Well we did get the pullback I mentioned last week. Now that the 'bears' are all loading up, I expect they will be crushed once again as the market reloads in the coming weeks.

Commodities (charts):
Oil prices shot up, closing near $99 per barrel.
Natural Gas rallied on Friday, closing near $4.00
-yes it was a buying opportunity (posted last week)
Gold was up, closing near $1409.
The 30 year Bond was up, closing near $121'23.
The US Dollar was down again, closing near 77.25 -approaching a double bottom??

News:
Stocks: Jobs take center stage
Problem bank ratio at 23-year high
Fourth-Quarter GDP Revised Down to 2.8%
Sales of new homes fall a shocking 11.2%
Foreclosures make up 26% of home sales
Libyan chaos stirs global panic over oil supplies