Blog
The Toxic Assets Avenger
March 24, 2009
Good morning. Last week the market had some volatile moves on a daily, or hourly, basis, but closed the week with a gain of only .8%, with the SPY moving from $76.09 the week before to close at $76.70. Be mindful, however, that the $.72 dividend in the SPY did come out as it went ex on Friday, meaning that it was actually up another $.72. The big news, however, came on Wednesday, when the Federal Reserve announced a long rumored plan to buy some long-term treasury securities.
Will it Take a Musket Some Day?
March 16, 2009
Good morning. A whole different tone in the market this morning from prior weeks, with the stock market staging a significant rally last week. Last week the S&P was up $7.17, from a close on March 6 of $68.92 to a close last week of $76.09, a gain of 10.4%.
Predictions
March 9, 2009
Good morning. Yet another horrible week for the market, as the SPY continued its seemingly relentless slide lower. The SPY finished the week at $68.92, down 6.8% for the week, bringing the yearly carnage to 23.7%. These numbers are despite a fairly substantial closing rally last Friday that had the SPY close 2.7% above its low print, and actually finish up slightly on the day.
Governmental Overload
March 3, 2009
Good morning. The weekly report on “last” week is starting to sound very familiar, with no good news for the market to be found. “Last” week the S&P was down another 4.5%, down from $77.42 to $73.93, bringing the yearly drop to an astounding 18%. Reasons abound, a good example being the government revision of fourth quarter GDP numbers from a minus 3.2% annual growth to minus 6%, way more than most had envisioned.
Nationalizing
February 23, 2009
Good afternoon. There was continued market fallout in the last week’s holiday shortened week, with the SPY down an additional $5.44, or 6.6%. That brings the decline this year to 14.2%, and it is only the middle of February! The XLF, the financial sector of the S&P 500, was down 16% on the week to a total decline of 40.6% so far this year.