Closing Bell: Volatility & exhaustion (BAC, MET, YRCW, AA, GM)

Posted Oct 8th 2008 4:05PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: General Motors (GM), Alcoa Inc (AA), Bank of America (BAC), YRC Worldwide (YRCW), MetLife Inc. (MET)

Today's market moves almost felt irrational and counter-intuitive. We had a global coordinated rate cut from the U.S., Canada, the U.K, The ECB, Switzerland, and China. Some might have thought this would create a 1,000 point rally, but many sellers are still winning out and the intra-day volatility was more than present.

The DJIA opened down around 200 points, rallied to being up roughly 200 points, went negative again to roughly the same levels, and then staged an afternoon rally. And then the selling came on again at the end of the day. Historically, this is what traders would look for as capitulation. Unfortunately, these are extremely unusual times and history books are of little use.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA 9,245.76 -201.35 -2.13%
S&P500 983.96 -12.27 -1.23%
NASDAQ 1,740.33 -14.55 -0.83%
10YR T-Note 3.713% (+0.207%)
52-week lows (major list)

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) sold its 455 million shares secondary offering at $22.00, yet selling took shares down to under $20.00 early in the day. Shares were down almost 8% at $21.95 right before the close.

MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET) fell sharply after the insurance giant said increased losses were bringing earnings down sharply to where it would only make two-thirds of its estimates. It was also going to sell about 75 million shares. Shares were down 24% at $28.00 right before the close.

YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW) is seeing shares jump this morning after the company issued a statement saying that its financial position was solid. That wasn't any reassurance of great earnings growth, but it wasn't the sound of a ploy of someone about to drown. Shares were up 23% $6.30 right before the close.

Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) shares traded lower after reporting earnings of $0.33 EPS vs. $0.54 estimates. More importantly, the company announced hard times to continue and cost cutting measures look like a company in total retreat. Shares were down 12.5% at $14.56 right before the close.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) originally traded up on the global rate cut scenario, but Citigroup made a big call by downgrading shares to a Sell rating with the stock already on 52-week lows. Shares were down 7% at $7.03 right before the close.

Tags: AA, BAC, DJIA, GM, MET, YRCW