Wednesday, February 04, 2009
8000 Reclaimed
The Dow managed to close the session Tuesday over the critical 8000 level. Mission accomplished Tuesday with the Dow returning above 8,000. The Dow tacked on 141.53 points to close the session at 8,078.36. The SPX gained 13.07 points finishing the session at 838.51. We have no play on.
The Dow benefited from strong gains in shares of Merck (MRK). The pharmaceutical company announced that it made a profit of 87-cents a share in the quarter compared with a loss of 75-cents in the year ago period.
The housing sector is another part of the economy that as we know has been dire but there was some good news on this front Tuesday. Pending home sales in December improved during the month with the index coming in at 87.7 compared with 82.3 in November. This 6.3 percent jump in pending sales points to improved home sales in January and February. The fact is that falling home prices and near record low mortgage rates is starting to have a positive impact.... though housing is not out of the woods yet.
The move above 8,000 on the Dow is a positive sign and the bulls out there are hoping today's (Wednesday) employment related data will not create selling. A weak employment report is already expected, but if Wednesday's reports are worse than anticipated, it could lead to another test of support.
Lets see.
Until next time.
The Dow benefited from strong gains in shares of Merck (MRK). The pharmaceutical company announced that it made a profit of 87-cents a share in the quarter compared with a loss of 75-cents in the year ago period.
The housing sector is another part of the economy that as we know has been dire but there was some good news on this front Tuesday. Pending home sales in December improved during the month with the index coming in at 87.7 compared with 82.3 in November. This 6.3 percent jump in pending sales points to improved home sales in January and February. The fact is that falling home prices and near record low mortgage rates is starting to have a positive impact.... though housing is not out of the woods yet.
The move above 8,000 on the Dow is a positive sign and the bulls out there are hoping today's (Wednesday) employment related data will not create selling. A weak employment report is already expected, but if Wednesday's reports are worse than anticipated, it could lead to another test of support.
Lets see.
Until next time.
# posted by Paul @ 5:04 AM 
