Closing Bell: If the pullback never comes... (BAC, WFC, XHB, CROX, DNDN, BRK.A, ADBE)

Posted May 4th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Adobe Systems (ADBE), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Crocs Inc (CROX)

If you have been waiting and hoping for a pullback of any size, the moves here are probably starting to make as much sense as using the notion that you should buy just because a company is keeping the same dividend it has always had. The markets screamed higher again today on the heels of some very solid housing data and that has the bulls firmly in charge again. In turn, market bears are becoming about as popular today as management of troubled banks. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,410.81 +198.40 (2.42%)
S&P 500 907.24 +29.72 (3.39%)
Nasdaq 1,763.56 +44.36 (2.58%)

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Is Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) raising more capital or are they not? It depends upon which news report you believe. B of A stock was up a sharp 17% at $10.20 late in the day. Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was also reportedly told by regulators that it needs to shore up more capital. Yet Warren Buffett defended it, and its stock was up 21% at $23.80 late in the day.

The SPDR Homebuiders ETF (NYSE: XHB) is showing just how much investors want in on the action. After the solid housing data came in this morning with bottom-fishers and tax-benefits helping buyers, this ETF was up almost 7% at $14.04 late in the day.

CROCS Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) is showing just how zany the recent bull market is. This was up huge on exponential volume this morning as traders were chatting it higher ahead of this week's earnings. This was up 38% at $3.17 very late in the day.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) was one of the few stocks off on the day. This came in on the heels of major insider selling after a tenfold rise.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) was up 1.8% at $93,610.00 late in the day after the Oracle of Omaha hosted the annual shareholders meeting this whole weekend.

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was down 3.5% at $26.49 late in the trading session. This was on the heels of two analyst downgrades on the stock.

Tags: DNDN, StressTest, warren buffett, WarrenBuffett, XHB

Print this

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-04-2009 @ 4:52PM

Iridium said...

This is just pure insanity. Corporations that are going belly up like Crocs are being saved by investors that are just buying everything is sight liek the recession never happened.

Are we going to keep denying reality? Are we just going to keep buying because everyone else is buying. Two months of stock growth are not enough to bring about an economic recovery. The recovery may happen in the wallets of stockbrokers but not in the wallets of main street.

Eventualy the losses on main street will have to show up in the stocks traded on Wall Street. Companies can not produce profits if people are not buying products.

How insane is it that a glimmer of hope around news that just isn't as bad can throw the makret up 20%. It is still bad news. the econoym is still contracting and will continue to contract for the forseeable future.

The market should be trading flat. That would mean progress. Instead we have created another massive bubble that needs to burst at some point.

The most troublesome aspect is oil going on a tear again. At this rate oil will be $80 by june. The principal point of recovery will be low cost oil. Unless oil drops back down to the historical average a real recovery will never come.

All we have done is say, forget about your job or working to create something of net worth to the economy. Just drop everything and get into stocks. You'll make more money and live better. It won't matter that is was made out of thin air. Thats what the government does.