Friday, August 29, 2008

Stocks sink going into long weekend

Dow was down 171, decliners over advancers 2-1 over decliners & NAZ was down 44. Dow was down marginally for the week but up 1½% in Aug. S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX was down marginally. NYSE volume continues very low, struggling to reach 0.7B.

Oil ended about even in the 115s as traders going into a long weekend, especially this very long weekend with a tropical storm hitting the Gulf, do not want to take bets. Behind Gustav is Hannah, another storm that could work into the Gulf in about 9 days. Hurricane season should keep market watchers busy. The Alerian MLP index is up pennies at 273, again traders have to keep cool for the moment.

I still think the Federal Reserve has been working overtime trying to fix the Fannie Mae (FNM/Freddie Mac (FRE) mess. I'm looking for them to make an announcement after the close the markets or over the weekend.

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