The past year will be remembered as one of the worst years for Wall Street, but it did end on a positive note. All three major U.S. indexes ended higher, each gaining over 1% on Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average added 108 points, and finished the trading day and the year at 8,776 points. The index has lost 33.8% since the beginning of 2008, proving to be the worst year for the Dow since 1931. The Nasdaq composite index was up 26 points, and closed with 1,557 points. On the year, the Nasdaq has been down 40.5%. The S&P 500 index ended 12 points higher, and finished the 2008 at 903 points. During 2008, the index declined 38.5%. Trading volume was low on the NYSE as many market players were on vacation as 1.3 billion shares were exchanged. The price on the 10-year Treasury note declined, as the yield went up 0.157%.
Crude prices saw the most volatility this year reaching an all time high of $147 during July, and then spiraling down to the year’s low of $33 in December. On Wednesday, oil prices settled at $44.06 per barrel after rising $5.57 on the day. Gasoline futures were higher and settled at $1.01 a gallon, while heating oil futures also increased to finish at $1.41 a gallon. Natural gas prices on the NYMEX we down $0.24, to close the year out at $5.66 per 1,000 cubic feet.
The Treasury announced guidelines for officials to provide aid to any company that is deemed vital to the making or financing of cars. This simply means that suppliers and financing arms within the auto industry will now be able to receive funding from the bailout money if necessary. The question now is if there is a hazard to offering such widespread support, will other industries come ask for funds as well?
Government data showed that jobless claims for last week dropped by 94,000. The Labor Department reported that state unemployment benefit insurance was down to 492,000 as of last week, keeping in mind that it was at 586,000 two week ago. It would be nice for this downtrend to continue in 2009 helping the economy find some kind of a bottom to grow off.
Hopefully 2009 will be a different story as the investors try to navigate their way past the hardships of 2008. Market will be closed tomorrow, but will reopen on Friday. Please join us then for the first Market Recap of the New Year. Enjoy a safe New Year’s Eve.
-Hassan Chaudhry
Disclosure: None
