If you are involved in the market right now and watch the volatility with swings up and down, it might be easy to forget that trading volume is very thin and that moves can be exaggerated easily. Today's numbers, with a recession in Europe and stagflation rising in the U.S., were discounted by traders looking ahead and interpreting data out on the calendar. The good news in housing is that existing houses are finally moving, but the bad news is that they are selling under replacement cost.Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 11615.93 (+82.97)
S&P500 1292.93 (+7.10)
NASDAQ 2453.67 (+25.05)
10 YR T-Note 3.892% (-0.055%)
52-Week Lows
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) is a bit of a mystery. This had very unusual call option buying seen in the stock, yet shares were down marginally on the day by less than 1% at $31.96 before the closing bell. This stock has been the subject of rumors before, so anything is possible.
Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) was a winner today. Shares were up 10% at $21.20 right before the close on reports that it was cutting 1,000 newspaper jobs or about 3% of its workforce.
Hansen Natural Corp. (NASDAQ: HANS) was a huge winner after Nelson Peltz' Trian Funds disclosed an ownership stake. Shares were up over 10% at $29.79 in the final minutes of the trading day, and this is up almost 40% even after poor earnings recently.
PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI) was a big winner today after the company sold off Australian operations for $920 million in a capital raising effort. Shares were up almost 60% at $4.45 in the final minutes before the close.
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO) shares were up almost 8% at $8.80 right before the close after Jim Cramer interviewed Martha Stewart herself and said the stock is cheap at $8.00.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-14-2008 @ 5:27PM
william lindblad said...
Wow! Good news, existing housing is moving!!!
Who told you that - Toll Bros? The National Association of Realtors? The government?
Now why would anyone like to concoct such a story?
If it is moving than why on earth are both Fannie and Freddie considering "bundle" packages of homes to present to investors?
Anyone who bought into the "moving" statement is a fool - and you must know the old adage about a fool and their money. Go ask the people that have money tied up in the WCI projects. I have one near me. Out of the 200 units 40 remain to be sold and there are another 40 or so, either in or near default or close to tax sale. Everything in it is 1 mil+. Now who do you think is going to pay the building maint costs? The remaining owners get the bill - can they pay? This is a scenario that was common back in the RTC. That was one of the reasons behind the RTC. If everything were on the scope & scales of the RTC, things would not be too bad. Unfortunately, today it is at least 10 times the size.
8-15-2008 @ 6:08AM
Warren said...
Keep fighting the good fight, william. Never be happy. NEVER!