Friday, August 01, 2008
Or Maybe It Was........
Once again all the major market indices saw large moves Thursday with the Dow experiencing its third 200-point move in just four sessions! The Dow fell 205.67 points Thursday to close the session at 11,378.02. The SPX lost 16.88 points to close at 1,267.38.
Though earnings played a part in trading Thursday, it was economic news that provided the bears the fuel they needed to push stock lower. Jobless claims were well above expectations and former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had bearish things to say about the housing market and economy. There was some respite in oil prices which fell on the session, leaving the oil sharply lower for July.
The jobless claims rose by 44,000 claims this past week to a level of 448,000. This also pushed the four-week moving average higher by 11,000 to 393,000. Adding insult to injury was a gain of 185,000 in continuing claims, which was the largest one week rise in more than a decade. GDP figures were also disappointing in the second quarter with growth coming in at just 1.9 percent when economists were look ing for growth of 2.4 percent.
To add fuel to the fire Mr. Greenspan made comments that gave the bears more incentive to carry on selling at the end of the session. The former Fed President stated that we are far from a bottom in the housing sector and that the U.S. economy is teetering on the brink of a recession!!!
Today Friday is a big day with the release of the jobs data for July. This will be a big report for the markets so lets see what happens.
Until next time.
Though earnings played a part in trading Thursday, it was economic news that provided the bears the fuel they needed to push stock lower. Jobless claims were well above expectations and former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had bearish things to say about the housing market and economy. There was some respite in oil prices which fell on the session, leaving the oil sharply lower for July.
The jobless claims rose by 44,000 claims this past week to a level of 448,000. This also pushed the four-week moving average higher by 11,000 to 393,000. Adding insult to injury was a gain of 185,000 in continuing claims, which was the largest one week rise in more than a decade. GDP figures were also disappointing in the second quarter with growth coming in at just 1.9 percent when economists were look ing for growth of 2.4 percent.
To add fuel to the fire Mr. Greenspan made comments that gave the bears more incentive to carry on selling at the end of the session. The former Fed President stated that we are far from a bottom in the housing sector and that the U.S. economy is teetering on the brink of a recession!!!
Today Friday is a big day with the release of the jobs data for July. This will be a big report for the markets so lets see what happens.
Until next time.
# posted by Paul @ 5:20 AM 
