Meanwhile among all the dreary economic news Dow is flattish (rallying from a 150 loss an hour ago), decliners are ahead of advancers 2-1 while NAZ is also flat. S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX set another multi year year, banks will probably be sold thru 2008:
| Value 165.25 | Change -4.30 | % Change -2.5% |
The Alerian MLP Index dropped 2 to 192 (it's been hanging in there better than other averages in recent days) & the Dow Jones REIT Index dropped 1 to 129. Meanwhile VIX, the fear index, rose another 1½ to 68 as it soars for the heavens. Hard to remember that a couple of months ago, this level was difficult to imagine.
Oil was flat after a report of favorable industrial output in Oct, which rose 1.3% largely related to normal operations at oil facilities following hurricane damage in prior weeks. Global economic issues are the prime driver for oil prices, the main reason it's down $90 in only 4 months:
| CLZ08.NYM | ...Crude Oil Dec 08 | ....57.12 | .... 0.08 (0.1%) |
There was a G-20 meeting in DC over the weekend, but, as usual, little was decided other than the worldwide economies need a lot of help.
Citigroup (C), one of the Dow stocks under 10, announced they will lay off 53K or 14% of their staff following layoffs earlier this year.
•Citigroup's Pandit Will Reduce Headcount by 50,000, Lower Expenses by20%
Target (TGT) reported lower EPS in Q3 but beat expectation by a penny, the stock is down only 18¢ as weak sales & lower results in its credit card division hurt. For guidance, they talked about many challenges going forward. Lowe's (LOW) reported EPS declined 24% but that beat expectations sending the stock up 1.44. They expect Q4 EPS of only 8-16¢ bringing full year totals to 1.46-1.54.
Amidst all the problems & chaos out there, the fate of the 3 auto makers is center stage. Instead of the markets, politicians in DC will decide their future.
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