A day like yesterday is tough to follow, so stocks went searching for direction. To some this seems like a bear rally again. Recently there have been a number of big gainer days followed by disappointment. Tomorrow, Ben Bernanke, the FED Chairman, will testify about the Bear Stearns story. This is politics in an election year, so he will be on will be on defense all day.
Dow was down 45 & NAZ was essentially even while advancers beat decliners 3-2, a confusing day. OK, Dow was hurt by Merck dropping 1.22 following the recent problems with its Vytorin. Volume has been running mediocre a little under 1½B per day, another sign about lack of conviction. Bloomberg TV had a story about money market funds that now have 3½T (that's T as in trillion dollars). A lot of frightened money is willing to accept 2-3% interest, a rate that will continue to decline, rather than invest in the stock market.
In company news, Merrill Lynch (MER) announced it was cutting up to 10% of the non-broker staff, bleeding has not stopped. Research in Motion (RIMM) reported excellent earnings after hours, sending the stock up 4.84 in after hours trading. This should help NAZ tomorrow. Bigger picture, watch for headlines to drive markets especially on the downside.
No comments:
Post a Comment