What Happened To The Stock Market Today?

What happened to the stock market today is one of the most popular questions visitors have when they visit this site. Because of that I’ve decided to update this post on a more of a regular basis, possibly weekly – or when there’s a major development.

6/3/2011
What a month it’s been for the stock market. Each week in the month of May, the DOW has lost some of the gains it’s been making. None of the weeks were as bad as we seen in the last three trading days. The DOW has lost 420 points, the NASDAQ loses 99, while the S&P 500 drops 45 points. The employment numbers were released this morning which caused all three indicies to start in the red only to make up a small fraction of it. The unemployment rate in the U.S. now sits at 9.1%

4/26/2011
Well after a pullback on Wall Street last week, the indicies are off again to reach new recent highs. The Dow finished up 115 points after some good earnings reports. Most notably Ford (NYSE: F) stating that they’ve earned $2.6 billion in the past quarter. It seems that Ford is the best stock to buy right now. I guess until Washington comes clean with the true condition of the economy, Wall Street will keep on climbing. Rememberm this is not some free stock market game so tread lightly and consider yourself warned. Happy Trading.
Ford stock price = $15.66

4/12/2011
I know it’s been awhile (1 month) since I last updated this post. It’s been a very up and down ride on Wall street during that time and I wonder how long it will go on. The Dow lost 117 points today while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 slipped as well. NASDAQ closed at 2744, losing 26 points and the S&P closed at 1314, losing 10 points. Nothing has really changed with the country’s economy, so I expect the three indicies will lose a lot more in the near future.

3/4/2011
The job report (unemployment rate) was released this morning. U.S. added 192,000 jobs in the past month and according to the report, the rate dropped to 8.9%. Crude oil prices for today rose to $104 a barrel, gold gained $12 per ounce. The three major indicies closed lower which means that traders are going to sit back this weekend and really go over the information. My suggestion is for you to do the same. I myself don’t trust what is going on and is waiting for the other shoe to drop. Happy trading.

2/15/2011
So for the last two weeks since my last addition to this post, the DOW has closed above the 12,000 level every day. It’s showing that it can hold it’s own. It’s moving well above the all three moving day averages and if you’re a technical type of trader, you’ve seen that the during the last six month period the DOW fell below the 50 day moving average twice, August 31st and November 30th. So if there’s a rhythm to the markets, expect to see it again at the end of this month.

2/1/2011
After two and a half years below this level, the DOW closed above 12,000. The DOW climbed 148 points to close at 12,040. The question is, will the market be able to stay at/or above this level. We are still in earnings report season and most are beating the street, so as long as there aren’t any major ripples in the economic reports we should be fine. Who am I trying to fool? The country isn’t on solid ground yet, so I do expect problem in this calendar year.

1/26/2011
The three major indicies were flat today. Many were thinking that today was going to be the day that the DOW closed above 12,000, something that hasn’t been done since June 2008. The only thing I feel worth mentioning today is the fact that Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) had an unbelievable earnings report. Revenue is up nearly 40% for the quarter. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) just reported their earnings after the bell and it was outstanding. The stock climbed over 10% after the news. Expect a good day on Wall Street tomorrow.

1/24/2011
What a way to start the week. The DOW closed at 11,980, the highest it’s been since June 2008. Companies are reporting their earnings and are beating the street’s expectations even though McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) released a good report, it warned about future margins because of possible rise in food prices. It was also reported today that economists are positive about the growing economy. There are many warning signs out there that indicate that the markets will take a hard hit in the near future.

1/20/2011
In the past week there was nothing worth posting about, but I feel that’s changed this week. Earnings season has started and so far it has been positive for the most part. Many of the major players like Alcoa (NYSE:AA), JP Morgan(NYSE:JPM) and Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) have given some strong results. The question is…Can they continue like this through the year? Experts are saying that the S&P 500 could gain as much as 10% this year. It may be difficult with reports of the housing market hitting a 13 year low and may not truly recover for 4-5 years. Keep an eye out for danger, we’re not out of the woods yet.
JPM stock price = $44.75
Alcoa stock price = $15.98

1/12/2011
The DOW as well as the S&P 500 closed today higher than they have since August 2008. In my opinion, there is no reason for the markets to be up nearly 90% from it’s low in March 2009. The economy hasn’t improved any where near that type of recovery and I feel it’s going to come down soon enough. The federal Reserve is printing money way too fast and hyperinflation is coming sooner than most might think.I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… Don’t follow the herd. Has Jim Cramer as said…”pigs get slaughtered.” If you’re up big time at the moment and have more than 50% of your total capital in the markets, start pulling some of it back. Take your profits and leave at least 50% of your money in reserve for when the big bull back happens. In the meantime, think physical gold.

1/7/2011
So overall for the week, it turned out better than I expected. Last weekend I knew the markets would be up on Monday, but they would drop back down by today. The DOW finished up .04% of a point from where it started, while the NASDAQ & the S&P 500 finished up 23 & 3 points respectfully. The economic data that came out today was par at best. Even though the Initial Claims numbers weren’t what Wall Street expected, the unemployment rate fell to 9.4%. Of course I feel that there are less people who are able to collect benefits so they wouldn’t show up in the numbers anyway. No matter what the government is telling us, I question it. The political game is out of control and the American taxpayer is paying the price for it. With earnings season upon us, who knows what we’ll see next week.

1/5/2011
Well today seemed to show that there is some resistance in the markets, but the DOW gained 32 points while the NASDAQ & the S&P 500 gained 21 points and 5 points respectfully. Gold did lose just over $5 today, but experts believe gold will hit $1500 this year.

1/4/2011
While the DOW and the S&P 500 were flat for the day, the NASDAQ lost some gains from the day before. An article from Mark Zandi stated that the United States “isn’t screwed” I wonder myself where we’re going to be economically if the 112th Congress that takes office tomorrow doesn’t do the right thing and cut the spending it’s predecessor has done for the last four years.

1/3/2011
How about that for the start of the new year? The DOW opened up nearly 100 point to rise another 40 points to finish where it started the day. The NASDAQ started up 27 points while the S&P 500 was up 9 at the opening, but also finished where it began in the morning. Many investors feel the this will be a good year for stocks and some state that the markets will rise about 10% for 2011. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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6/29/2010
Right out of the gate the DOW was down 2% and who knows where it will be when the markets close in five hours. I don’t know about you, but I am waiting for another 8-10% pullback for me to load up on some good stocks.
The labor market hasn’t been good for awhile and finally Wall Street is feeling nervous about it. The Dow should be around 9000 points and that is what I’m waiting for. Happy Trading.

6/25/2010
I hope you guys are seeing the pattern on Wall street. What goes up will come down. The DOW is back down to 10,152 after losing 145 points. Now the Asian markets are following the same path. The Nikkei 225, Japan’s benchmark is already down 1.5% in the first hour. The rest of the world is starting to lose faith in our economy. Friday’s trading is not going to go well, so start your weekend early and sit out until Monday.

6/22/2010
How’s that roller-coaster ride going for you? In just six trading days the Dow has gone from 10,190 to 10,587 and back down to 10,193. The stock market doesn’t know which way to go with all this political BS. Like I said last week, the economy hasn’t changed and I would tread lightly when it comes to buying and selling stocks. I don’t expect anything good to come out of the rest of the week.

6/14/2010
In the past week the DOW gained nearly 5%, only to realize that the world economy hasn’t changed. After the news of Moody’s downgrade of Greece’s government bond ratings to junk territory. The markets were rallying on the earlier data of the euro-zone industrial output in April. Moody’s Investors Service have noted the risks in the joint euro-zone and the IMF rescue package.
Hang in there, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

6/7/2010
The stock market took another dip today, which is what I expected to happen. The fears of a financial meltdown in Europe are growing on Wall Street. Why shouldn’t it though, our economy depends on the rest of the world. As it is, we still have major concerns about our own economic recovery. As I said before, I don’t have any confidence in the government and feel that the DOW should be more around the 8500 range. Many numbers are too inflated (including last Friday’s jobs report) to give us a more of an accurate reading of the economy.

In the past five days of trading the DOW has lost nearly 6%, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a way to make money in the stock market. Over the same period, I’m up 9% proving that if you do your research, You can make it in any market. Like Jim Cramer says… “There’s always a Bull market somewhere.”


6/4/2010
The jobs report was released this morning and Wall Street didn’t take kindly to it. The unemployment rate did dropped “officially” to 9.7%, but out of the 431,000 people would found work in May, nearly 95% of them were created for the U.S. Census. The DOW opened in the morning down over 200 points where it pretty much stayed all day and to close down 3% (300+ points) for the day. Next week I don’t expect good things to happen, so trade carefully.

5/7/2010
Well like I said, the day was going to be interesting. The market was down as much as 279 points only to bounce into the black momentarily to finish 139 points down for the day. This is not over people. There is still some down side to the markets. The stock market volatility is high and with investors feeling a little leery about staying in, I would have to say that this is the time to either sit back or short the market. I expect next week to as interesting (if not more) than this past one.

5/6/2010
I’ve been saying that there will be a turn in the markets and today was the day. Greece’ financial issue has Wall Street wondering what is to come. Add to the fact that someone mis-typed in an order causing the three major indicies into a tailspin. For a brief moment the DOW was down 998 points to end the day “only” down 348 point. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 were down over 9% at the lowest of the day.
Tomorrow is going to be another bumpy road. Be prepared for the ride.

5/4/2010
It looks like the confidence in the stock market is slowly fading. The S&P 500 Volatility Index (^VIX) jumped 20% today to indicate that things will get shaky real soon. Read the rest of today’s stock market volatility

*Original post dated Sept 29, 2008*
Let’s just say the it went to hell in a hand basket (where that phase came from, I don’t know). The market started down 300 points in the first twenty four minutes and then stabilized being down about 250 points for most of the day. It stayed that way until Congress decided to vote against the “Investing In America” bill. The vote was 207 to 228 against saving this economy and the financial sector. The bill could have passed if Nancy Pelosi didn’t go ahead and bash the Bush Administration, but she did and that’s the way it goes.

As for what happened after the voting was over, the stock markets went spiraling out of control. Within three minutes the DOW dropped another 400+ points, making the DOW down 705 points. It did get a bounce and return 300+ point, but again that didn’t last long.

In the financial sector, most stocks fell more than double digit percentages and some like Wachovia dropped 81%. Who knows which company will fail next because of this failure by Congress.

As for the rest of the day, the market closed horribly low. The DOW lost 777.68 (-6.98%)points closing at 10,365.45, the NASDAQ lost nearly 200 points today closing at 1983.73 (-8.14%) and the S&P 500 dropped 106 points to close at 1106.42 (-8.79%).

Needless to say that there was no bright spot in today’s trading. What I found odd in a day like this that there were two stocks that did quite well. The first one is a solar stock that could be considered to be a penny stock and trades on the NYSE, that stock is Verasun Energy Corp. (NYSE:VSE). The stock rose $0.86 today in open trading, closing at $3.05. At the time of me writing this post, it’s sit at $4.00, that makes it a gain of 81%. What I found interesting is that there was no news that was released today on this company.

The other company that did well was one that I’ve invested in and have spoken about here on this site. Converted Organics CL B WRTS (NASDAQ: COINZ) had a bad day in the open market losing at one point 10%. In after market trading it’s something totally different, it’s bounced back off it’s low of $3.30 and now sits at $4.70, up 25% for the day.

Just for some ideas as to what to do for the rest of the week. The markets will come back once a bill is past by Congress. Do your due diligence and look into which stocks work for you and your portfolio and buy now while the getting is good. The main reason the markets have dropped is because of the lack of confidence in the economy and many people have decided to pull out for now to see what happens.

Tags: Federal Reserve, Financials, NYSE, Stock market news

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Congress and the President Come To An Agreement Fo...

photo by NCinDC1

It looks like the Congressional leaders and the President have come to an agreement to save the financial industry with the $700 billion that the Treasury Department has been asking for. Lawmakers pushed for joint spending controls with the Bush Administration. The Bill will go to the house tomorrow for a vote. President Bush feels that Congress will pass this Bill without any problems, He said in a written statement released today, “Without this rescue plan, the costs to the American economy could be disastrous,”
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It seems thought that others don’t share Bush’s optimism.Capitol Hill leaders are now moving to sell it to colleagues in both parties and acknowledged they were not certain it would pass. “Now we have to get the votes,” said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the majority leader.
Of course we have Nancy Pelosi, who is always looking for a photo “op” as well as showing that she actually cares about the American people said “This isn’t about a bailout of Wall Street, it’s a buy-in, so that we can turn our economy around.”
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The plan would let Congress hold on to half the money and force the president to jump through some hoops before using it all. The government could get at $250 billion immediately, $100 billion more if the president certified it was necessary, and the last $350 billion with a separate certification — and subject to a congressional resolution of disapproval.
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“This is the bottom line: If we do not do this, the trauma, the chaos and the disruption to everyday Americans’ lives will be overwhelming, and that’s a price we can’t afford to risk paying,” Sen. Judd Gregg, the chief Senate Republican, told The Associated Press. “I do think we’ll be able to pass it, and it will be a bipartisan vote.” Some of the lawmakers feel that it might not pass until possibly Wednesday.
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“This is something that all of us will swallow hard and go forward with,” said Republican John McCain. “The option of doing nothing is simply not an acceptable option.”
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Barack Obama Of course is trying to claim credit for taxpayer safeguards added to the initial proposal from the Bush administration. “I was pushing very hard and involved in shaping those provisions,” he said.
I don’t know how we even need the other politicians in Washington when we have this man who thinks of everything for the American people (yes, I’m only joking). Sort of the way that Obama is a joke of a candidate.
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The best part of the plan is that there will be guidelines to the fact of the “Golden Parachutes”. Executives whose companies benefit from the rescue could not get one, as well as any firm that benefits the most (receiving more than $300 million) would be taxed highly on any compensation for their top execs over $500,000.
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I look forward to see how Wall Street views this tomorrow morning. I don’t see this being anything but a good thing throughout the week. I expect the financial sector to be up at the end of the week.

Tags: Federal Reserve, Financials, Government spending, Security Exchange Commission, Treasury Dept.

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SEC Chairman Chris Cox Releases Statement

On Friday September 26, 2008 the Chairman of the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) released a statement in regards to to mess in the financial industry. I’m not surprised that no where in the statement does he say that because of his lack of leadership skills and responsibility that he will resign from his position. Instead he puts the blame on Congress and the bill that they passed.
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Why is it that we have the two entities, the SEC and the Federal Reserve, that are to keep an eye on the economy and the way the financial companies do business, not do their job for the last few years? Now that the economy is in dire straits, they want to step up and get something done. Let’s not over look the fact that it’s not themselves that the total burden falls on, no they have to run back to Congress (the entity that they blame in the first place) to rush and get it done. It’s a shame that our own government and it’s administration refuse to take the blame for this mess.
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Chris Cox’ statement is full of what is going to be done now, after the fact of him and his staff have sat back and watched this unfold. It speaks about what changes are recommended to be made to have this Consolidated Supervised Entities (CSE) program work. The same program that was passed by Congress that didn’t work in the first place. In his own words he says that “the program was fundamentally flawed from the beginning”.
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He even goes on to say that there are still other gaps in the regulatory framework. Mr Cox stated “Unfortunately, as I reported to Congress this week, a massive hole remains: the approximately $60 trillion credit default swap (CDS) market, which is regulated by no agency of government.”
Why is it that this is only being reported this week?
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If Mr Cox has been informing our Congress of the situation for the last few years, why hasn’t anything been done until now?
Here is the statement from Chris Cox that was posted on the SEC website for anyone who wants to read it all. I suggest that you take your ulcer pill first before reading.

Tags: Federal Reserve, Government spending, Security Exchange Commission

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The Bailout Continues, But What’s Next?

photo by mikelicht

I’m not surprised that Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson would be running to Congress to get them to rush this bill through, after all It’s the fault of the three stooges (Bernanke, Paulson and Cox) that this has gone on this long and to this extent. The two of them are warning that letting problems persist would have dire consequences for the national economy. Why didn’t they think of that last year when this was first rearing it’s ugly head. I forgot, Bernanke was in denial, he was saying last year this this was normal and expected.
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Now they want our politicians to hurry up and get something done right a way. Which I think is funny when you think about how all Congress can rush is themselves out the door for vacation (which will happen again at the end of this week. Senator Chris Dodd D-Conn said, “We all recognize the gravity of the situation,” said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., presiding over the congressional hearing on the crisis. He said the “economic maelstrom” was caused by a combination of “private greed and public regulatory neglect.” I wish he would be more specific on names instead of saying “public and private”
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This administration has become a joke. The SEC isn’t regulating any of these companies, we have Senator being paid off to look the other way for the last three years, Bernanke in denial for the last year, and last but not least we have Paulson (the biggest joke of them all) spending our tax dollars on this bailout. As it is we don’t have the money to save these companies, never mind the economy. I got a great idea for starters, why don’t they take all the monies that the CEO’s are going to get for their great work that they have done for the companies?
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Tags: Federal Reserve, Financials, Security Exchange Commission, Treasury Dept.

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In The World Of The Stock Markets

I’m sure all of us would like to have our world in better condition than it is today. The news in the stock market was what I was expecting and there should be more to come.
The financial sector didn’t continue it’s rally today for many reason that may take until next week to explain it all. What I will say is that the confidence in the stock markets is definitely not back. The DOW closed at 11,015 down just over 372 points.
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Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley came up with a nifty concept to avoid the turmoil as much as possible by transforming themselves from investment banks into traditional bank holding companies. By becoming bank holding companies, Morgan Stanley and Goldman will come under the scrutiny of national banking regulators and will be subject to new capital requirements. Too bad that the investors of Goldman Sachs didn’t think of it as a good idea as of right now, but let’s see what happens in the days and weeks ahead.
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The government has found something else to bitch about to each other than actually coming out with some real clear cut plans than just spending $700 billion of our money. I heard on CNBC tonight that that amount of money would pay off all failed mortgages that were held by Fannie Mae (I might have heard wrong, but I’m looking into it). If that’s the case why is the Treasury Dept. asking for so much? Maybe they needed some money for lunch this week, who knows?
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The 10 day suspension of shorting over 800 financial type stocks didn’t go over too well today either. It seems that what’s the sense of buying a stock if you can’t short it so you can hedge your bet. I guess it’s not a good idea to buy into a company for the sole purpose of the value to rise.
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The dollar lost some strength today as oil went on a 15% rally to close at $120.92 at the last trade that I saw tonight. Heating oil also jumped on the expected cold weather season that is on it’s way. Today is the first day of autumn.

Tags: Commodities, Federal Reserve, Security Exchange Commission, Stock market news, The Week Ahead, Treasury Dept.

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Is It Time To Bailout Of The Stock Market?

With all the talk going around about the condition of the stock market and the government planning to spend $700 billion of the taxpayer’s money to save the financial sector, it may be time to sit on the side lines for a while until the dust settles.
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I don’t know about you, but I’m still not confident in the condition of this economy. The bailout that the Treasury dept. is looking to do is two-fold. One of course is to save the financials from their own greed and stupidity. The second is to bring confidence back to Wall Street. In the media this weekend, it been said that the two day rally has shown that the confidence has returned to a certain point.
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I disagree. This little rally in the latter part of the week was nothing but a rouse from the smart money on Wall Street. I expecting this week to be another week from hell. Right now the Market is sitting at 11,388 points. What is that suppose to mean? Nothing. If you look at the big picture you will see that the trouble of being over-extended hasn’t gone away, it’s only become the governments problem and I’m waiting for the other shoe to fall.
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Don’t get me wrong, I have always been a bull in the stock market and a positive person. I’m only talking like this because there is too much corruption going on in the government as well as Wall Street and I’m not confident about the economy at this point in time. I know that we will get through this nightmare but not over night. It’s going to take about 6-12 months before we see the light at the end of the tunnel. If by some crazy chain of events Obama gets elected, then I do expect this turmoil to go on longer.
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I said in a earlier post that for the time being I’m going to be a spectator in the stock market and sell into any rally. After reading more of this weekend headlines and other news stories as well as researching the stocks that I’m in, I’ve decided to sit on the stocks that I have (there’s only a few at this time), and hold steady for the week.

Tags: Federal Reserve, Financials, Security Exchange Commission, Stock market news, Treasury Dept.

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Hank Paulson Has No Clue

Henry “hank” Paulson is looking for Congress to give him $700 Billion to buy the bad debt from the trouble financial institutions. Why should they do that? Well he says that the alternative is unimaginable.
The credit market are in shambles and he feels that there’s nothing else that could be done (so he says). The financials are riddled with unsellable bad debt of unknown value and without the government stepping in and but the debt the sector will get worse. Buying the debt Paulson said, and creating a market for it is the only thing that should be done. If nothing is done, small and big business’ won’t get loans. no more auto loans and mortgages will dry up even more. the ripple effect will carry to the rest of the economy.
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It is said that Congress will pass some sort of bailout before the end of the week. Why the end of the week? Because Congress is set to adjourn at that time (which is unnecessary since they just got back from their five week vacation.
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The proposal is being pushed to Congress by the White House this weekend. What is unclear is the proposal itself. It doesn’t answer any questions as to how these assets will be handled. For one, what are the assets going to be priced at, when they are bought now or when they’re sold off later. Paulson doesn’t have a clear cut plan on how this will be handled. He also stated on Meet The Press, “We can’t determine what the cost is today”. He’s fly by the seat of his pants. This man is totally in the dark and trying to tell us (the American people) that this will help the financial sector, but at what cost? In my opinion, at the cost of the taxpayers not the investors or the management of these failed corporations. As it is these CEO’s will still get their bonus’ of millions of dollars and we get caught holding the bag (of crap).
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The bill is said to possibly include some sort of mortgage relief for homeowners, but most likely not include another stimulus package. We will have to see what happens when Congress is faced with authorizing the $700 billion for the Treasury dept. to buy these some-what worthless assets. There has been discussions with foreign countries encouraging them to participate in some way (this is where my head starts spinning). This proposal would also allow Paulson to buy assats for foreign banks.
This country is in grave danger and it’s not from Wall Street, it’s all coming from the government. What I want to know is where was the SEC during the last year while this was all building up. Aren’t they suppose to be watching these institutions?
Chris Cox and Hank Paulson should be fired as well as tarred and feathered for their lack of focus during this period.
From the looks of this issue, it might help the financial sector, but for how long?

Tags: Federal Reserve, Government spending, Security Exchange Commission, Treasury Dept.

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Financial Sector Woes

photo by Jeff Sandquist
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In the months that have followed after Bear Stearns was rescued from complete failure we see that it’s far from over. Bear Stearns was just the beginning to realization that we have over extended ourselves in the financial industry.
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The government has stepped in to save Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and lastly AIG, but where will it end (other than Lehman Brothers)? This past week the Treasury dept., Federal Reserve and the SEC along with the cooperation of foreign governments have gotten together to see what is to come of the world economy. Unfortunately what needs to be done has not really been addressed.
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That being said lets take a look at the real issue. We as a nation are over extending ourselves with borrowing too much money. never mind the fact that it’s also the problem in the corporate world as well. Leveraging money is the way for business’ to have their money work for them and to go further, but it’s gotten to the point that it seems to be the only thing that they (as well as we) know what to do. The government wanted to stimulate the economy by giving the American people a tax rebate check and to do that they needed to borrow the money from China. In the long run it didn’t work out that because many taxpayers paid off debt or put the money in savings. It’s a shame, they’re going to use the taxpayer’s money to pay back the debt of borrowing money to give to the taxpayers, it’s a paradox.
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There is only so much wealth in the country and the rest of it is leverage of that money. Yes the gevernment can print more, but there’s only so much actual value in this world. The wealth does grow over time, but not as fast as we want it to or as quick as we borrow it.
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There are going to be more bank failures, how many, who knows. What I will say is that this little two day rally that the markets had this past week will be short lived. I will always follow the markets and learn what I can, but I’m going to take profits into any rally and take a break from this roller-coaster ride.

Tags: Federal Reserve, Financials, Government spending, Security Exchange Commission

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Treasury Department, Federal Reserve And The SEC

photo by NCinDC
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The Treasury Department along with the Federal Reserve and the SEC (Security Exchange Commission) have come up with a great idea by using our tax money to solve the financial problems. Secretary Hank Paulson Outlined the basics of the plan, but more will be told in the weeks and months ahead. Which means that the three stooges (Hank Paulson, Chris Cox and Ben Benanke) are just “winging it” and making it up as they go along.
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It’s a real shame that this wasn’t done months ago, even before Bear Stearns took the hit. But as usual the three of them have always been reactive not pro-active. After all the short-selling that’s been going on for the last few months, now Chris Cox (how appropriate) wants to really put the brakes on the short-selling with some regulations. What I thought was stupid is that they’re going to create a agency to look over the regulations that will be put in place. Isn’t that what the SEC, Treasury dept. and the Feds were created for?
This is why the Democrats and their fearless leader (also brain-dead) Obama want to raise taxes. It’s so we can pay for their friend’s new jobs that are created constantly. Speaking of Obama, Isn’t sad to see that in just four years he’s been able to take the second all-time spot for getting money from Freddie and Fannie.
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Our government is not broken, it’s the people that the American people have put in office that are corrupt that are destroying it all. I love this country and have nothing bad to say about the dream and ideas that our fore-fathers had for the new world. Unfortunately over the period of 232 years things change and corrupt people corrupt good intentions.
I like what Senator John McCain said, he said that Chris Cox would be fired if he was President and continued with, that Mr Cox should do the right thing and quit.
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Don’t take this 700+ point rally in the stock market in the last two days as anything but a selling opportunity. I expect this crap to come back down again. I don’t trust the powers-that-be at this time. If you saw what went on in the financial sector before the market opened today and watched as the first thirty minutes went on, you can see that the only ones that are making a killing right now are the big guys. They pumped up the prices before the bell and after the average joe’s jumped in, they started to sell of with the profits and leaving them holding the bag.
I suggest to sell the rallies and wait it out. Good luck and happy trading.

Tags: Federal Reserve, Financials, Government spending, Security Exchange Commission

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Is Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) And Morgan Stanley (NY...

What in the world went on yesterday? It doesn’t look like it’s getting any better in the finance sector. As a matter of fact, it looks like it’s going to get much worse. Goldman Sachs closed Wednesday at $107.89, which is a price I thought that I would never see again. They are the leader in the industry, but obviously they can’t escape the credit crisis even with the decent earnings report that came out this week. As for Morgan Stanley, what happened yesterday was just a continuation of the trouble that stock has seen throughout this year. Morgan Stanley closed Wednesday at $21.75, which is 50% down from where they were in May of this year.
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This is in part of the fact that the Feds stepped in to save AIG and many investors are dumping any stocks now that may seem vulnerable. Both companies rely on the confidence of other financial institutions staying open for business. No one is trusting that any financial company will be able to survive this turmoil.
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Of course others believe that there are other factors involved. It’s being reported that John Mack, the CEO of Morgan Stanley has sent an internal memo to the firm’s staff blaming short sellers for the drop in the stock price.
“You should know that the management committee and I are taking every step possible to stop this irresponsible action in the market,” Mack wrote. “We have talked to Secretary [Hank] Paulson and the Treasury. We have talked to Chairman [Christopher] Cox and the SEC. We also are communicating aggressively with our long-term shareholders, our counterparties and our clients. I would encourage all of you to communicate with your clients as well — and make sure they know about our strong performance and strong capital position.”
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What is Paulson and Cox going to do about this issue that they didn’t have the chance to do months ago. They had the chance to pull in the reigns on short selling and decided to look the other way. I believe that the letters will fall on deaf ears.

Tags: Earnings report, Federal Reserve, Financials, Government spending, Investments, Security Exchange Commission

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