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Bloomberg: Bernanke Bid To Lift Housing Scuttled By Rising Rates

Sat, 30 May 2009 18:58:44 GMT

First, the whole premise that the central bank of a country should be interfering in markets like this is shameful. Or better put, did the central bank ever apply the breaks to "cool things down" on the housing sector when it was screaming higher? Of course not... there were no actions even 1/100th of the magnitude when times were good... but all the king's horses (and men) have been called to the wall on the flip side of a bubble (that they helped create) The two title insurers we own have been obliterated of late - while we are "somewhat" hedged by our short of the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Bond ([More...]

Market Report For Friday: Apr 17, 2009

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:00:45 GMT

(7:11am ET) There was plenty of economic data released in the US during the day; however the equity market sidetracked until 2pm ET, when with prices at modest losing levels on the week until that point, suddenly, and for no discernable reason, there was a rally that left the indexes with small gains through Thursday. Perhaps traders were anticipating a positive quarterly report from Google (GOOG +2.4% on +151% of average daily trading volume)? After the close, the company did not disappoint, beating both revenue and EPS estimates. The company posted net income of $1.42 billion ($5.16/share), up +8% from the $1.31 billion ($4.84/share) recorded during the same period a year ago. Revenue for 1Q2009 increased +10% to $4.07 billion, from $3.7 billion, excluding traffic acquisition costs. On average, analysts had expected earnings per share of $4.93 and revenue of $4.08 billion, according to Yahoo Finance. For the first[More...]

Daily Report For Thursday, Apr 16, 2009

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:36:24 GMT

(8:25am ET) The main focus of traders today will be the 1Q2009 earnings report from JP Morgan (JPM), and the close scrutiny of the data and hype that will follow. After hitting a low of $14.93 in early March, JPM has rallied +118.1% to yesterday’s close of $32.56. There was a high of $34.15 on Tuesday. http://tinyurl.com/da6dcv JP Morgan reported Q1 net income of $2.14 billion, or $0.40/share, down -10% from a year earlier, but beat analysts' expectations. Revenue increased +48% to $25.03 billion. WSJ reported that CEO Jamie Dimon said the firm extended about $150 billion in new credit to consumer and corporate customers during the quarter. With a last hour rally spurred by the real estate investment trusts (REITS) ($DJR +8.7%) and Banks ($BKX +5.1%) in the Financial sector (XLF +4.8%), the US equity[More...]

Daily Report For Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:18:59 GMT

(9:30am ET) Stocks in NY sank at the open following various negative reports from TV talking heads, though trade volume was weak on the Easter Monday. After the close, Goldman Sachs surprised with unusually positive revenue and earnings. Today, President Obama will be making a speech on the state of the economy. Traders are confused. Yesterday was pretty much a lost day in the market. Very little of consequence happened. By the close, the DJIA’s small loss (-25.57 -0.32% to 8057.81) offset the small gain in the S&P (+2.17 +0.25% to 858.73), while the NASDAQ (+0.77 +0.05% to 1653.31) was flat. The Toronto Composite (+98.50 +1.07% to 9285.6) and the Toronto Venture Board (+11.89 +1.23% to 980.86) were stronger as the metal miners and goldminers enjoyed a good day. Except for Japan’s Nikkei 225 index (-0.92% to 8842.7), prices today were strong in the major international equity markets: Australia (+2.22% to[More...]

Daily Report For Tuesday: Apr 7, 2009

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:31:58 GMT

(8:05am ET) Stocks closed Monday's session in NY lower on a lightly-traded day, but much higher Week over Week. Through Friday, the major market indexes saw their largest four-week gains in seventy-six years. Now the market is preparing for 1Q2009 earnings season, which gets underway today with Alcoa (AA). On Monday, the DJIA (-41.74 -0.52% to 7975.85), S&P (-7.02 -0.83% to 835.48), and NASDAQ (-15.16 -0.93% to 1606.71) could not make headway against concerns the major banks may be preparing to release negative quarterly reports. The Toronto Composite (-49.59 -0.55% to 9016.17), and Venture Board (-12.42 -1.27% to 963.17) were also down on the day, but higher Week over Week. In international equity markets today, the closing prices showed losses except for Shanghai China (+0.80% to 2439.2): Australia -1.30% to 3648.5; Hong Kong -0.46% to 14929.0; India -1.80% to 10534.9; and Japan -0.28% to 8832.9. At 7:30am ET,[More...]

April 2009 Monthly Market Review

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:45:00 GMT

March has been an extraordinary month from a historic market perspective. The volatility we have become accustomed to over the past 7 months did not disappoint, as the S&P500 lost nearly 5% on the first trading day of March and hit its 13 year low on March 3. After February resulted in more stock market losses, the operative word among government officials was changed to “the economy was fundamentally ok.” The Fed and Treasury then launched a new program to pump $200 billion into the asset backed security (ABS) market to spur lending for non-mortgage consumer loans. Ben Bernanke then made an unprecedented move for a sitting Fed Chairman, granting widely watched 60 Minutes an interview, to stress his belief that America has averted the risk of a depression and a recovery could begin next year if the financial sector stabilizes, which he believes is happening. It is our opinion that among existing government finance officials, Chairman[More...]

Daily Report For Wednesday, Apr 1, 2009

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:53:00 GMT

(8:07am ET) In his absence, Bill has asked the CTAB traders fill in for him today and maybe tomorrow as well. Bill was having connectivity and other related computer issues early Tuesday morning. Perhaps the Conficker worm virus programmed to be unleashed April 1, began slithering through the Bahamas a little ahead of schedule. The final trading day of the month opened higher, with aggressive traders nimbly positioning themselves for further short gains, after a late afternoon bounce Monday, anticipating large money managers to “mark up” equities boosting their quarter end returns. This strategy paid off nicely as the S&P future rose to 807, nearly 4% off Monday’s late afternoon low of 776. However, traders expecting prices to close near the highs were disappointed, as stocks peaked near 3pm eastern, giving up a significant portion of the day’s gains. The DJIA finished up 86.9 (+1.15%) closing at 7608.92,[More...]

Daily Report For Friday, Mar 27, 2009

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:32:35 GMT

(8:36am ET) On Thursday, the upbeat earnings report of (Cara 100) Best Buy (BBY) served to lift the market at the open. Technologies stocks later were the basis of a closing hour rally. At the close, the DJIA (+174.75 +2.25% to 7924.56), S&P 500 (+18.98 +2.33% to 832.86), and NASDAQ (+58.05 +3.80% to 1587.00) gained for the third day in four this week. The Toronto Composite (+198.06 +2.25% to 8995.50) was in line with NY, but the Toronto Venture Board (+24.98 +2.63%to 974.02) also rallied. In the US equity market, the big winners were the Industrials (XLI +5.4%), Consumer Disretionary (XLY +4.6%) and Basic Materials (XLB +4.0%). All ten sectors were winners, but the laggards on this day were Energy +0.9% and Financials (XLF +1.2%). Within the many industry groups, there were a broad section of technology groups that were on the leader board. Lagging a bit were the Goldminers ($XAU[More...]

Daily Report For Friday, Mar 13, 2009

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:55:00 GMT

(9:48am ET) Equity market prices lifted pretty much from start to finish of Thursday’s session. Retail Sales, Jobless Claims and Business Inventories and comments from Barney Frank and Tim Geithner played a role in the general bullishness. The latter made comments on the dangers of ending the mark-to-market rule and instead believe subtle changes could be made in an effort to improve it. Pfizer (PFE) made a big splash with the announcement its Phase III trial of Sutent was stopped early as the drug showed a significant benefit in patients with pancreatic cancer. At the close, the DJIA (+239.66 +3.46% to 7170.06), S&P 500 (+29.38% to 750.74) and NASDAQ (+54.46 +3.97% to 1426.10) were up sharply for the second day in the past three. The Toronto Composite (+271.25 +3.39% to 8282.27) and Venture Board (+19.52 +2.37% to 843.42) were almost as strong. The winning sector by a wide margin was[More...]

Daily Report for Thursday, Mar 5, 2009

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:05:00 GMT

Daily Report for Thurs., Mar. 5, 2009 (7:57am ET) Equity markets made steady progress on Wednesday as Energy (XLE +4.8%) and Basic Material (XLB) stocks rallied from the opening bell, giving traders hope that an upside move was about to commence. By the end of the session, the DJIA (+149.82 +2.23% to 6875.84, still down from Friday’s 7062.93 close); the S&P 500 (+16.54 +2.38% to 712.87, still down from Friday’s 735.09); and the NASDAQ Composite (+32.73 +2.48% to 1353.74, still down from 1377.84) showed promise. The Canadian markets were also firm as the Toronto Composite gained +183.13 +2.40% to 7814.75 (down from Friday’s 8123.02 close), while the Venture Board gained just +6.88 +0.83% to 830.95 (down from Friday’s 861.66). Earlier in the day today, Asia-Pacific equity markets were mixed: Australia (+0.73% to 3148.8); Japan (+1.95% to 7433.5); and Shanghai China (+1.04% to 2221.1) were strong, whereas Hong[More...]