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