Sunday, July 20, 2008

Positive start continues

Early gains in Asian/Australian markets are strong. Taiwan, Hong Kong & Australia are each up 3%, while Shanghai is only up fractionally & Tokyo is closed for a holiday. The financial/banking stocks are up 3-7% riding on what was perceived as favorable reports from Citigroup (C), JP Morgan (JPM) & Wells Fargo (WFC) last week. Oil was up pennies, even touching 130 at one point, on unfavorable talks in Geneva plus tracking the new storm tropical Dolly.

Gains last week were not evenly spread around. The beaten up stocks benefited the most with large gains. The Alerian MLP index declined to the 52 week low, Fri was the one year of the anniversary of reaching its record high 80 points above 262. REITs were only up a little & junk bond funds were ignored.

General stocks, other than greatly depressed ones, were more mixed with so-so gains at best. Kimberley Clark (KMB), after lowered guidance, suffered an immediate 4 point sell-off. Google (GOOG) & Microsoft (MSFT) also saw selling after reporting disappointing earnings. Reports this week which don't make investors happy will see selling.

No comments: