2nd straight weekly decline for the Dow

Dow fell 34, advancers ahead of decliners almost 2-1 & NAZ was up 8. Bank stocks were helped by late day buying. The financial index is in the middle of its trading range (160) over the last month.

S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX

Value 160.32

Change 0.94

% Change 0.6%

Value for S5FINL:IND





MLPs have been fighting their way back after recent selling. The index has recovered 10 points from the lows of 2 days ago, today up 2 to 221s. Meanwhile REITs have not varied much from their central line around 126 & junk bonds have been flattish. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell 4 more basis points to 3.51%.

Alerian MLP INDEX --- 2 weeks




Dow Jones REIT Index --- 2 weeks




Barclays Capital Hi Yld Bond ETF - 2 weeks




Oil was weak going into the weekend, these changes are not meaningful.

CLQ09.NYM

..Crude Oil Aug 09

..69.24

.. 0.99 ......(1.41%)

Bloomberg TV had a story about the winners this year in the S&P 500. Dividend payers would seem to be the logical ones, but that has not been the case. Their study showed the companies with yields of 5+% were down this year while the 138 not paying divs were up sharply. A dozen of those no div stocks with excellent cash flow were doing even better. There has been a high tolerance for risk this year.


They had another story on General Motors emerging from bankruptcy, that's getting bogged down. The United Steel Workers are involved & complaining they're not getting a fair deal. In addition, unsecured bond holders have complaints. The Supreme Court will probably be needed to resolve those issues & that may not happen quickly.


S&P 500 dipped into the red for 2009 earlier this week when markets were lower. With gains in the last 2 days, it's back in the black (up 15 YTD at the close). Two weeks ago Dow closed at 8800, finally taking it into the black YTD. But Dow couldn't hold that value, down over 300 YTD. The high savings rate reported this AM is troubling. While the concept of savings is good for consumers to get their balance sheets in better shape, this economy needs more spending to pull out of the recession. Just another indication the recovery may be slow & painful.

Next week will be a holiday shortened week. Volume is typically light during these times with only modest price swings. Have a good weekend!

Dow Jones Industrials --- YTD