Market News

[weatherweenie]

NEW YORK (AP) -- A downgrade of bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc. is likely to have far-reaching effects, making it more difficult for cities to issue new bonds and forcing further write-downs at financial services companies, analysts said Friday.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080118/bond_insurers.html

 

[weatherweenie]

Briefing.com:
The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are down 4.4%, 4.3% and 5.8%, respectively, this week. All sectors are set to finish lower. Telecom (-9.2%), energy (-8.9%) and financials (-8.4%) were hit the hardest. Consumer discretionary (-2.2%) is set to post the smallest loss.

 

[weatherweenie]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major U.S. indexes have broken key technical support levels, leaving the stock market vulnerable to further declines and the turbulence could get worse, according to chart watchers.
With the Dow now holding precariously above 12,000, a drop below this psychological level could help confirm the worst fears of investors -- the onset of a bear market, stock technicians said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN1833790220080118?rpc=44

 

[Weather_n_Leather]

Looks like the week could start out shaky for the US markets.

The US markets are closed today for the Martin Luther King Holiday. However, the overseas markets took a beating. It appears very few people feel the US stimulus package will work....and there is even an opinion the US problems could spread around the world.

Global markets plunge on U.S. recession fears
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/21/news/international/world_markets.ap/index.htm?cnn=yes

Global economic crisis 'serious': IMF Chief
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/21/news/international/europe_econcrisis.ap/index.htm

 

[weatherweenie]

BEIJING (AP) -- Shares in China's banks fell sharply Monday after news reports said its No. 2 lender, Bank of China, might write down holdings of U.S. mortgage securities and two others increased reserves for possible losses.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080121/china_banks.html

 

[Rustynutt]

Think the Chinese would benefit from a 60% off consumer import fire sale about now. Trouble is, there are a lot here holding the bad thinking the same thing. We are a value right now, much less expensive than Europe, more complex than Africa, but it's hard to tell not being able to gauge Pound Sterling or Marks to Dollar on an hour to hour basis The Euro may be the financial common denominator overseas, but each country still does business as a separate entity IMHO. BMW is shaking about now I'd imagine.
Bush has his "Shock and Awe", and we'll just have to wait and see where all the monies spent during this administration have been scuttled to. Guess one could look at it as hiding it from the democrats for the next couple of terms. I sure as hell don't have it.

 

[optionman]

Futures deep in the red

Although futures are deep in the red, we are still many hours away from the market open so I wouldn’t get too worried about them just yet. Sure things look ugly, but we have about 11 hours to turn around and cooler heads may prevail later in the session.

If futures remain at these levels I wouldn't be surprised to see gentle Ben step in with a big fat interest rate cut. An interest rate cut of say .75--1.00 basis points combined with the prez’s stimulas package may stem the blood flow. If we are not off these lows by the time the market opens I would be surprised if he didn’t step in and take some action.

optionman

 

[Birchtree]

I'm currently seeing Dow futures at +48 and S&P futures at +3.70

 

[weatherweenie]

I'm currently seeing Dow futures at +48 and S&P futures at +3.70

Where are you getting that?

 

[Birchtree]

www.money.cnn.com

Check under markets.

 

[FUTURESTRADER]

http://www.bloomberg.com/index_americas.html

spx -60

 

[weatherweenie]

Bank of America Profit Shrinks in Fourth Quarter on Credit Losses, Weak Investment Banking

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday its fourth-quarter earnings fell sharply, hurt by mounting credit losses and weak investment banking results.
Net income at the Charlotte-based bank declined to $268 million, or 5 cents per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31 from $5.26 billion, or $1.16 per share, a year ago. The bank's revenue fell 32 percent to $12.67 billion from $18.49 billion last year.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080122/earns_bank_of_america.html

 

[weatherweenie]

8:00am ET
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -67.8. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -86.0. Futures point to a sharply lower open in the wake of substantial losses in global stock markets. Hong Kong, the Shanghai Composite and India have plunged more than 10% in the last two sessions. The selling has been spurred by a fear of a United States economic slowdown. Meanwhile, the Treasury market is rallying in a flight-to-quality bid. In earnings news, Bank of America (BAC) missed expectations and reported a $5.3 billion CDO-related write-down.

 

[weatherweenie]

Futures get a bounce on news that the Fed unexpectedly cut rates by 75 basis points.

 

[weatherweenie]

Fed Cuts Interest Rate Amid Global Stock Sell-Off and Fears of Recession

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve, confronted with a global stock sell-off fanned by increased fears of a recession, cut a key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point on Tuesday, the biggest one-day move by the central bank in recent memory.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080122/fed_interest_rates.html

 

[weatherweenie]

9:00am ET
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -60.8. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -83.8. Futures give up the majority of their 75 basis point rate cut induced bounce. In overseas trading, the German Dax briefly hit positive territory on news of the cut, but has since slipped back into the red.

 

[Weather_n_Leather]

Watching CNBC this morning and listening to comments about the Stock Market and the rate cut. I am hearing things that are a little disturbing.

1. The rate cut was 0.75. But several important people were expecting a full 1.00.

2. I heard numerous people say "Too Little...Too Late"

3. People are already expecting another cut next week. Are we setting ourselves up for another disappointment?

4. Cramer really does not like the Fed chairman Ben Bernanke.

5. The most disturbing thing is the bounce that occurred when the rate cut was announced has evaporated.


I am becoming very doubtful how well the current stimulus plan will do.

But just remember, the market will be back. It will just take some time.

 

[DrFaustus]

It seems that the Fed just doesn't want to get in front of this thing ... they want to be reactive instead of proactive. I'm not sure what the Fed can do about this anyway, but it would be nice to know that they are at least trying.

 

[weatherweenie]

The next question is, does today's Fed move keep them from lower rates at their Jan 30th meeting?

 

[whitemingo]

IMO today was a good test to see how much their move would affect the current market. They could be planning for more cuts.