Odds and Ends

I have a couple of quick things I wanted to mention this afternoon. The first relates to yesterday’s post – The iShares DJ Financial (IYF), SPDR Homebuilders (XHB) and Retail HOLDRS (RTH) – Wait for Proof…(Read More)

A Positive Start to the Day

We are just over an hour into the session and here’s what I see… Click here for symbol descriptions The day so far has an upside bias as only the iShares Treasury Bond (TLT), SPDR Homebuilders (XHB), and S&P Retail Index (RLX) are trading lower…(Read More)

The! Biggest! News! of! the! Day! – Not Rogue Traders, Nokia, Qualcomm, Lennar, AT&T, Hershey, or eBay

Here are some of the contenders for today’s biggest…news…of…the…day…  A rogue trader that was able to rack up an alleged %247 billion fraud at Societe Generale…Earnings from Nokia (NOK) that are giving the stock a lift… Earnings from Qualcomm (QCOM) that are giving the stock a lift… [note - a gain today would help, but not eliminate, the concerns I noted yesterday...]Earnings from Lennar Corp (LEN) as the company “reported the largest quarterly loss in its history”…Earnings from AT&T Inc (T)…Earnings from Hershey Co (HSY)…The departure of Meg Whitman as eBay (EBAY) issues disappointing guidance…[note - see below for more on EBAY...]Talks [subscription required] of a MP3 service from Yahoo (YHOO)…A lack [subscription required] of buybacks…A look [subscription required] into the recent volatility with the comment – “Many traders were skeptical that the selling is over”…While those are all stories worth watching, I think it is obviously clear that the biggest story is this – a breaking news video from CNN that shows sasquatch on the Moon…(Read More)

Daily Wrap-up – The Market Surges Off Its Lows

Remember what I said in the post below about the “margin of error” in this market? Well, the last hour of the session really drove that point home… Chart Courtesy of Thomson Financial Index Index Value Point Change Percent Change S&P 500 (SPX) 1338.6 28.1 points 2.14 percent Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) 12270.2 299 points 2.50 percent Nasdaq Composite (COMP) 2316.4 24.1 points 1.05 percent Russell 2000 (RUT) 693.4 21.9 points 3.26 percent CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX) 29.02 -1.99 points -6.4 percent Click here for symbol descriptions As Mark Fightmaster noted, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) put in a 600 point swing from low to high…(Read More)