Today saw a monster rally brought on by Tim Geithner's Treasury plan to rid banks of toxic assets. Then a much "less bad" bit on the existing home sales showed a gain of more than 5% because so many are distressed house sales. And now there is a new issue to consider: The bears have to be worried as key upside technical resistance levels were taken out in the last hour of trading. Here are the unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 7,775.86 +497.48 (6.84%)
S&P 500 822.92 +54.38 (7.08%)
Nasdaq 1,555.77 +98.50 (6.76%)
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) traded up sharply on the Treasury plan to help banks get rid of toxic assets. There are still many questions, but this was a huge day for banks. BofA was up 19% at $7.37, and Citi was up almost 17% at $3.07 right before the close.
American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) also rose on the Treasury plan to get toxic assets off the balance sheets despite AIG not being a bank and despite there not being any market for some of its toxic assets. AIG also saw some interest as it seems that some late day headlines put some delays to the Senate vote on bonus taxing because of legal issues. AIG shares were up 12% at $1.42 before the close.
General Electric Corporation (NYSE: GE) rose over 7% to $10.28 before the close. This was despite the Moody's debt rating downgrade that took away its "AAA" rating, just like S&P has already done. That was deemed a mere catch-up call.
General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) was even up by 5% to $3.34 shortly before the close. This was after a representative for the bondholders said that the government and bondholder plan might not be enough to keep the company out of bankruptcy. If this rose, then you know it was a huge day.
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) posted bad earnings with a 75% drop, but the hopes really came in with a strong market and the notion that the earnings before items were actually above estimates. The high-end jeweler even gave no hope for a great 2009 and it still rose. This was up 14% at $23.06 shortly before the close.
Closing Bell: Economic Catapult for Thanksgiving & Black Friday (WMT, TGT, GRMN, GOOG, MSFT)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-23-2009 @ 4:49PM
clikdawg said...
All hail The Great Leap Forward!
Get into trouble, just soak the peasants (who are kinda like crawfish -- they actually LIKE being boiled ... no, really ... )!
Somewhere back in the misty mists of time, the Sheriff of Nottingham is laughing his ass off ...
3-24-2009 @ 10:49PM
Andy said...
Do you think Chase (JPM) will buy Citi Group (C)?
3-26-2009 @ 4:35PM
john hudson said...
IF YOU KEPT YOUR 100 SHARES OF GM AT $34.00 FROM A YEAR AGO AND YOU BUY 100 SHARES AT $3.40 THAN YOU'VE PAIRED YOUR LOSES AND WILL RECOVER QUICKER.