Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Markets fall on Citigroup's loss & weak economic data

Another rough day in the markets. Dow is down 209, decliners over advancers 4-1 & NAZ is down 48. NAZ is 400 points (14%) below it's recent high, a significant decline. Dow is flirting with it's lows in the second half of 2007.

News today was not pretty. Ugly news from Citigroup was excepted & they delivered. They lost $10B in Q4, cut the div 41% & lined up $12.5B in added financing. They are cutting 4200 jobs on top of the previously announced 27K job cuts. Their stock is down 2, another new low. Speaking of more financing, Merrill Lynch (MER) is getting $6.6B in added capital.

The Commerce Department report said the economy registered a 0.4% drop after revising Nov numbers down. This follows disappointing sales figures at major retailers last week.

The Treasury bond yield fell to 3.73% & oil slipped to 91 (a decline is a bet on a weaker economy). This is not a pretty time in the stock markets. Near 12.5K, the Dow is on defense & it looks like it may not hold out much longer. Declining markets mean it's homework time. I like fallen angels which don't deserve this kind of treatment.

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