Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Stocks down in late day selling

Following the monster rally yesterday, a pullback was to be expected. But that isn't exactly what happened. Stocks dropped modestly in the AM with accelerated selling in the last 2 hours. Dow dropped 115, decliners over advancers 2-1 & NAZ fell 37.


Banks are in charge of this market. The S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX was having a quiet day with only a modest decline but again, there was greater selling in the last 2 hours.

Value
120.79
Change
-8.42
% Change
-6.5%


The Alerian MLP Index slipped 1¾ while the Dow Jones REIT Index dropped over 9 (much of yesterday's gains) to 100. Junk bond funds were mixed probably helped by the bullish environment for other debt.


The Federal Reserve will buy Treasuries with under 10 year maturities for the rest of this month. These purchases are expected to reduce borrowing costs. Earlier in the day, the 10 year Treasury rallied but fell back to break even (after declining in the last 4 days). The Treasury 10 year bond yields 2.65%, still far less that 3% last week.

Fed to Start Buying Treasuries in $300 Billion Plan to Cut Borrowing Costs
Treasuries Reverse Course, Wipe Out Losses on Fed's Debt-Purchase Schedule


Oil was down, but only pennies as the bulls are looking to take it to new yearly highs.

Hedge fund assets, following the worst year in their history, are expected to decline 11% this year. Their assets exceed $1T, more contraction means their future selling is overhanging the markets.

Hedge Fund Assets to Fall 11% in 2009, Study Says


The only 2 gainers in the Dow were Boeing (BA) & DuPont (DD). About 1 hour before the close, 10 were in the green. Not a good early signal for trading tomorrow.

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