Stock Market Blog -Mar 27th

The market recovered nicely this week, taking us back over the 1300 level on the S&P 500. Japan's woes continue, the bombing continues in Libya, and the market continues to go up!
Gold continues to climb too, hitting another record high this week.

Citi's stock can't seem to move up past $5, so they are doing a 10 for 1 reverse stock split to get the price up close to $50! You can fool some of the people some of the time...

RIMM dropped on earnings, while ORCL was up after reporting their earnings.

New all time highs: ABC, BIDU, CAT, CSX, CVX, CTSH, DTV, SINA


New unemployment claims dropped to 382,000 (chart).
This week, one more bank was shut down by the FDIC! (list).

Next week: (Economic reports link). The big news next week will be the monthly Jobs report on Friday. We also continue to watch events in Japan, Libya, and Europe -and now Syria and Israel too.

Market commentary: The market has rallied back from the dip we saw in the first half of this month. Being the end of the quarter this week, I expect we will see some more positive movement for now. Oil might be doing a 'double top' for now.

Commodities (charts):
Oil prices rallied, closing just above $105 per barrel.
Natural Gas rallied (finally!), closing near $4.40
Gold rallied, closing near $1426
The 30 year Bond dropped, closing near $120.
The US Dollar was up a bit, closing just over 76.

News:
U.S. stocks notch weekly gains
Citigroup Announces 1-for-10 Reverse Split
Sales of new U.S. homes tumble 16.9% to record low
Consumer sentiment falls sharply in March
iPad 2: Out of stock by Saturday
Michael Dell’s Very Big Stock Purchase
Gold futures notch record high

Another eurozone crisis is coming – this time it's Portugal
Japan reports rise in radioactive seawater

Stock Market Blog -Mar 20th

The market dropped early in the week, then recovered somewhat by Friday. Banks rallied on Fed news about being able to pay dividends again. The nuclear reactor situation in Japan worsened, while earthquake and tsunami victims are scrambling for help (seems like the news forgot about them). The US Dollar continued to drop, and Oil is back over $100 again.

New all time highs: BSFT, CSX


New unemployment claims dropped to 385,000 (chart).
This week, no banks were shut down by the FDIC! (list).

Next week: (Economic reports link). We continue to monitor the news out of Japan and the Middle East. GDP report on Friday too.

RIMM and ORCL report earnings on Thursday.

Market commentary: The market stumbled again this week, though it recovered a bit on Thursday and Friday. With all the bad news out there, I don't see much to hold the market up. We may be setting up for a larger correction in this two year rally. Keep your eye on the US Dollar too -if it starts to rally, it could hurt the market.

Now that we've started bombing Libya, next week could be an interesting one in the markets.

Commodities (charts):
Oil prices dropped, then recovered, closing near $101 per barrel.
Natural Gas rallied, closing near $4.17
Gold dropped, then recovered, closing near $1416
The 30 year Bond was up, closing near $123'11.
The US Dollar was down, closing just under 76. All major currencies rallied on Friday, except the US Dollar!

News:

Inflation pressure bubbles, home building dives
What the End of QE2 Means for the Market
The bull market is over – we're in a bear market now
What’s next for commodities with Japan in crisis
AT&T to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion
Florida: 18 Percent of Homes are Vacant

U.S. Missiles Strike Libyan Air-Defense Targets
West Plans More Strikes on Libya Despite Arab Criticism
BoJ Injects Another 5 Trillion Yen to Calm Market
Central Banks Set to Tighten Despite Japan Crisis

Stock Market Blog -Mar 13th

The big news this week was the huge earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The market however reacted to the up-side on Friday. The up-trend seems to be breaking down here, so I would use any rally to take profits.

New unemployment claims were back up again, this time to 397,000 (chart).
This week, two banks were shut down by the FDIC! (list).

Next week: (Economic reports link). Triple witching -expiration for Options, Futures...

Market commentary: The market faltered some more this week, so be careful. Being options expiration week for the 1st quarter, I expect we'll see a bounce next week (to take out all the shorts?).

Commodities (charts):
Oil prices dropped, closing near $100 per barrel.
Natural Gas was mostly unchanged, closing near $3.90
Gold dropped, closing near $1421 (quadruple top??)
The 30 year Bond was down, closing near $122.
The US Dollar was up, closing just under 77.

News:
Stocks plunge on economic news, oil price swings
The Dow's Plunge: Should You Be Worried?
Pimco Move Could Send More Investors Out of Treasurys

Japan central bank injects $184B as stocks plunge
Second explosion at stricken Japan nuke plant

Stock Market Blog -Mar 6th

This was a rocky week, with big moves up, and big moves down. The monthly jobs report on Friday showed a drop in the unemployment rate to 8.9%, but the market sold off anyway.

Gold, Silver, and Oil hit new highs, as the US Dollar continued to drop.

New all time highs: APKT, CVX, DTV, NTES, PAY, PHK, PNRA, PRGO, SLV, SLW, TJX

New unemployment claims were down to 368,000, a 3 year low! (chart).
This week, no banks were shut down by the FDIC! (list).

Next week: (Economic reports link). The Treasury auctions $66 billion in notes and bonds.

Market commentary: The up-trend is still intact, and I expect we will see the market continue higher in coming weeks -too many bearish traders expecting it to go down! The weak US Dollar helps to push it up too.

This month marks the 2 year anniversary of this huge bull run, with some indexes now up over 100%.

Commodities (charts):
Oil prices shot up again, closing near $104.4 per barrel.
Natural Gas was down, closing near $3.8
Gold was up, closing near $1428.
The 30 year Bond was down, closing near $120'26.
The US Dollar was down again, closing near 76.4 -approaching a double bottom??

News:
Stocks: Dow tumbles on oil fears
Week Ahead: Oil Pressure to Remain on Stocks
Oil Ends Above $104 in Highest Close Since September '08
Jobless claims fall to nearly 3-year low
U.S. adds 192,000 jobs; jobless rate dips to 8.9%
Charting unemployment – good news & bad news
Home prices: The double-dip is near