Dow remained down after weak opening

Stocks tumbled at the start of trading, remaining at low levels for rest of the day. Dow closed down 184, decliners over advancers 7-1 (widest disparity in a long time) & NAZ was off 51.

Banks have seen a lot of weakness in the last 2 weeks. The Financial Index started this week at 176, but has fallen 24 (13%).

S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX

Value 152.50

Change -8.36

% Change -5.2%

Bank of America (BAC) had become a high flier, more than tripling from its low at 4. But enthusiasm has been waning, coming after it announced plans to sell stock & assets. This story is being repeated at most of the other big banks.


Bank of America --- 1 month





This has been a very tough week for high yield stocks. The Alerian MLP Index dropped 7½ today to the 208s. The floor of 210 lasted 2 weeks. The Dow Jones REIT Index fell 9, bringing its weekly loss to 17, the lowest level in almost 4 weeks. Junk bonds funds have also been pulling back this week.

The 10 year Treasury bond had an advance, taking the yield back down to 3.10%. The rally was based on the gloomy retail sales news, making Treasuries look like a better investment (i.e. money flowed out of stocks into bonds).

Treasuries Rise as Retail Sales Drop Renews Recession Concern



Oil is having a tough time assaulting 60, although one trader talked about 62 being a more important barrier..

CLM09.NYM

..Crude Oil Jun 09

..57.89

.. 0.96 ......(1.6%)

Yesterday General Motors (GM), still a Dow stock, fell to 1.09, a 76 year low. The last time it traded at that price was April 22, 1933. GM said that 6 execs sold stock, aggravating the growing pessimism that bankruptcy is around the corner. It's not a confidence builder to find GM execs bailing out, even if the stock is only 1+. Today the stock rallied, up 6¢.

GM Falls to 76-Year Low After Executives Sell Stock


The gloomy news on retail sales was a kick in the head that the markets couldn't handle. They had been getting upbeat news on the economy bottoming out, bringing a sense of confidence about the future. This jolt brought back reality. A few days ago the S&P 500 broke into the black for 2009, going above 903.25. Today it's 883. Dow has been not able to advance after breaking thru the 8K ceiling, making it a new floor.


Dow Jones Industrials ---- 2 weeks