Indecisive markets are mixed

After a weak start, the Dow came back spending the rest of the day in the red but above the 8K floor. With a strong finish in the PM, Dow lost only 45, decliners modestly ahead of advancers while NAZ was up 11 helped by Google (GOOG) reporting favorable numbers. For the week, Dow fell 200.

Despite all the gloom, the Alerian MLP Index hangs tough remaining above 190 while Dow is down 8% YTD:


Alerian MLP Index --- YTD





By way of contrast, REITs have had a very bad year following their severe sell-off in the closing months of last year:


Dow Jones REIT Index --- YTD




Today MLPs & REITs were up while junk bonds were weak & VIX slipped back pennies. The S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX rebounded 4, remaining near its low set this week.


Oil had a good day. The Mar contract is several dollars above where the Feb contract was when it expired 2 days ago. This may be a signal that oil prices will be heading up.

CLH09.NYM

..Crude Oil Mar 09

...46.06

.. 2.39 ......(5.5%)

Economic damage has not been limited to the US. CNBC Asia & Bloomberg TV nighttime report on markets in Asia & Australia. Their biggest companies have been pummeled. This week, in addition to the flood of profit warnings from Chinese companies, LG Electronics & Samsung (Korea) along with Sony & Canon (Japan) have been reporting some of their worst losses in history. Toyota, now the #1 auto company in the world, is laying off thousands this month.

There is a tug of war between optimism betting on the success of a stimulus package versus pessimism based on reality coming from earnings (losses) reports. Earnings will keep coming for a couple of weeks.