So much for "geopolitical risk" not being a factor in the markets, and for that matter so much for the bulls. Today was a psychological blow for traders as the DJIA crossed under the 12,000 level today. Israel's conducting of a training exercise to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities was the excuse needed for the bears to assume full control. Oil prices rose over $2.00 per barrel to $134.77 today, even ahead of the weekend meeting to explore ways to boost Middle East refinery production. Throw in the excuse of a Quadruple Witching Day on top of it and that's all she wrote. These are the unofficial closing levels for major US index levels:
DJIA 11,842.69 (-1.8%)
S&P500 1,317.93 (-1.9%)
NASDAQ 2,406.09 (-2.3%)
10 YR T-Note 4.137% (-0.06%)
52-WEEK LOWS
TOP 10 ANALYST CALLS
Here is a partial earnings calendar for next week's big technology earnings on deck.
Cincinnati Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CINF) managed to buck much of the downward trend today despite the company's poor guidance comments after losing money on investments and its insurance exposure to the massive Midwest Flooding. Shares were up 0.6% at $28.78 in the final minutes of trading today.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) were both hit hard today after S&P placed the Big 3 Auto Makers' credit ratings on review under a "negative credit watch" list. To show how sensitive the market is still treating credit risk, Ford shares were down over 8% at $5.80 and GM shares were down 6.6% at $13.81 in the final minutes today.
Despite word out of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) saying they weren't going to go on a web buying spree to eliminate additional dilution fears, shares of the software beast were down 2.5% at $28.19 in the final minutes of the day.
The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS) performed better than the market today, but shares saw a muted reaction after the company put its nitrogen fertilizer business up for sale. Shares were up 0.6% at $152.16 in the final minutes of trading.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) saw a drop after reports came out that the company is sending away 3 executives and is considering a reorganization. Shares were down 2.7% at $22.11 in the final minutes of the day.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-20-2008 @ 5:03PM
djps said...
"Israel's conducting of a training exercise to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities"...
Imagine what would happen if those 2 country names were reversed.
"Iran's conducting of a training exercise to bomb Isreali nuclear facilities"...
All hell would break loose!
6-20-2008 @ 5:59PM
prousa217 said...
AOL suck...
Today, in this country we do not need presidential election, we do not need a president because our problem is just too big , red tape and bureaucracy, greed, speculative, hedge trading , lobbyist and corruptions are just uncontrollable. We have a weak congress, weak senate and bottom line- weak legislative assembly they just know how to fight each other and did absolutely nothing for the people of America. By the way, both candidates have associations with Enron, Enron loophole.... Can we trust anyone? So, let's end the election and quit wasting our time.. Let's just do write-in's - Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Steve Job or Donald Trump. They all have enough money and good brains, they can not be bribed by anyone, agree..? We should all be disgusted.. we suck. We just had too many stupid politicians.. Time to shut down NYMEX, Wall St, banks, investment bank, brokerage firms. Who needs them?? Bank @ Credit Union!
6-22-2008 @ 10:30AM
chrisferro said...
The Dow is still up 55% from its low of 7600 back in 2002, that's up about 9% annually for the past 6 years - very good. If it goes up any steeper it simply isn't sustainable. At 14,000 it was way overpriced. This is a very healthy correction and a great buying opportunity. Remember to look at the big picture (during the great depression, the Dow dropped 88%)