THE FINAL NUMBERS

NEWS:  During the final hour of trading the Dow wiped out a 99-point loss to close with a modest loss. The industrials finished with a loss of 7 points at 12,258. The S&P 500 eked out a minimal gain of less than one point after being down as much as 10 points. The NASDAQ was the weak link, falling 12 points or 0.6% on the day.

THE BOTTOMLINE: A vey muted group of closing numbers today is overshadowed by the rally off the late session lows, a signal buyers were picking up some “value” plays in the final hour of trading. There are two key support levels you must watch this week on the S&P 500; 1310 is the closing low of 2008, set on 1/22 and 1270 is the intraday low, set the following day. The mid-afternoon sell-off brought the index to within 10 points of the first support level before it was able to boun ... Read More »

THE FINAL NUMBERS

NEWS:  A late session rally helped pare the losses and push the S&P 500 into positive territory. The S&P 500 managed a 1-point gain and closed the week up 1.5%. The Dow lost 28 points and gained 1.4% for the week. The NASDAQ had the roughest day, falling 10 points and only adding 0.7% for the week. The small-cap stocks continued to struggle also, falling 0.5% today and putting together a paltry 0.4% rally on the week.

THE BOTTOMLINE:  The resilience the market showed today in the face of more negative comments by blowhard Alan Greenspan regarding a recession and a worse-than-expected economic numbers was impressive. It has now been 4 weeks since the market fell several hundred points on the open and the Fed came to the rescue. Since that time the major indices have been able to remain above the l ... Read More »

THE FINAL NUMBERS

NEWS:  Up 132, Down 80, Closed up 47. Sounds like an exciting day for the Dow, however compared to recent volatility, it was not bad. The S&P 500 moved in similar fashion and closed with a gain of 10 points or 0.8%. The NASDAQ added 14 points or 0.6%. The little guys had a strong day with the Russell 2000 rallying 1.5%.

THE BOTTOMLINE:  When the alarm went off early this morning (too early!) the first thing I did was turn on the TV to see where the futures were trading. To my surprise they were not too bad. Considering the 9% drop last night in Cisco (symbol: CSCO), I was ready for a big triple-digit loss on the open. As the morning went on the futures got worse after the higher than expected rise in unemployment claims and very weak January retail numbers.  But heading into the opening bell th ... Read More »

THE FINAL NUMBERS

NEWS:  Triple-digit gains for the Dow were short-lived and when the closing bell rang the index was down 65 points or 0.5%. The S&P 500 lost 10 points or 0.8%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ lost 31 points or 1.3% to close at a new 52-week low. Helping send the NASDAQ lower today was the semiconductors; the Philly Semiconductor Index (SOX) lost over 2% and closed at a fresh 4-year low.

THE BOTTOMLINE:  Another see-saw day for the markets that saw red numbers early before a triple-digit gain for the Dow and of course more red numbers in the late hours of the session. The mood was bullish early as strong earnings from Disney (symbol: DIS) last night after the bell along with an oversold tone had the bulls ready to buy. The smiles turned upside down when Fed President Plosser of Philadelphia began speaking about in ... Read More »

THE FINAL NUMBERS

NEWS: The major indices suffered one of the worst days in a long time as the combination of weak ISM numbers and an overbought situation led to mass selling. The Dow closed off 370 points or 2.9% to close at a new 2-week low. The S&P 500 was the worst of the big 3 with a drop of 44 points or 3.2%. The NASDAQ cascaded 73 points or 3.1%. The NASDAQ 100 (NDX), which tracks the 100 largest, non-financial stocks on the NASDAQ fell 3% today to close at the lowest level since last March.

THE BOTTOMLINE:  How quickly things change. Last week the S&P 500 rallied nearly 5% and within two days the entire gain is almost gone. It is clear the intermediate-term trend of this market is down until further notice. The long-term based on the charts and current valuations remains bullish. The short-term trend is undetermi ... Read More »