Stocks declined on weak economic data. Dow was down 109, but decliners were ahead of advancers by only 40% & NAZ was down 16. Volume has been mediocre (1.5B or less) at best in the last 4 days (3 of which were up). Economic news was dreary today. The durables goods orders, a leading indicator, looked bad. Aircraft orders were fine but other measures gave poor readings. Bear Stearns story underscores the need for investment houses to come under federal regulation similar to commercial banks according to Treasury Secretary Paulson. The Senate will hold hearings to investigate the Bear Stearns failure. Can you spell, uh-ho? Commodities are back in the saddle again. Oil shot up almost 5 to 105.90 on a report of low inventories & the weaker dollar. Gold is back to 949, up from under 920 just a couple of days ago.
Oracle, (ORCL) reported earnings after the close. They gave a solid report, but nothing exceptional sending the stock down 9% after hours. That's the kind of market we are in. This sets up a negative tone for the start of trading tomorrow. I keep thinking this looks, feels & sounds like a recession. There seems to be a growing perception we are in one.
No comments:
Post a Comment