Dow Jones Industrials --- 1 week
Decliners were over advancers 3-2 & NAZ dropped 10. Other indices were quiet. VIX was little changed but Lehman High Yield Bond ETF edged up 17¢. Many junk bond funds were also higher. 20+% yields compared to 2.1% on the Treasury is too big a spread to ignore. The very venturesome buy these funds, trying to catch a small move up which works out to a big percentage gain. Other indices didn't change much. Volume remains low with many investment managers on holiday or maybe they've fled the country.
Oil continues weak, at 39. Lower prices for oil should be bullish, but they aren't.
| CLG09.NYM | ..Crude Oil Feb 09 | ...39.10 | ... 0.81.......(2.0%) |
The Madoff story drones on. A money manager was found dead in his Manhattan office in what is considered a suicide. He invested with Madoff. Money clients will be checking with their money managers around the world. to find out what exposure they might have to this scandal. Not good for market psychology. A couple of articles are also shown below with guesses about where he invested $Bs, even now nobody really knows
•Madoff Fund Operator Who Had $1.4 Billion Invested Found Dead in New York
- Where did all of Bernard Madoff's money go?- AP
- Madoff's Non-Trading Strategy and the Noels' Sad Christmas Tale- Tech Ticker
Retail sales are coming in very low despite big discounts. Numerous ads on TV & in the papers testify how hard they are looking for shoppers. Bloomberg TV did a piece about customers not returning to stores (from last year) except at Wal-Mart (WMT). WMT has been the best performing stock in the Dow this year. Speaking of the Dow, American Express (AXP), another Dow stock, will get more than $3B from the gov after becoming a bank last month.
Stanley Works (SWK), an S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrat, is one of the many beaten up stocks which deserves better treatment. They have paid an annual div for more than 100 years with annual increases for over 40 years. They're somewhat involved in the housing market, that hurts. But EPS should be above 3 this year & hopefully near 3 next year, allowing them to cover the 1.28 div with some degree of comfort. Some will back off because of their exposure to housing. But I like their long track record of paying dividends.
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