Friday, March 06, 2009 5:10:03 PM
MARKET BOTTOM: SPX 683.38 0.83 0.12%
SPX 666.79
Dow Ekes Out a Gain After Late Rebound
FUTURES, STOCKS, ECONOMY, JOBS, BANKS, POLITICS
Posted By: Cindy Perman | Writer
CNBC.com
| 06 Mar 2009 | 04:18 PM ET
Stocks staged a late-day rally Friday, pushing the Dow to a positive close, after a report that a major UK bank has reached an asset-protection deal with the government.
Stocks got a quick pop at the open an on-target payrolls report but then slid downhill for the rest of the session, taking more safety stocks with it, until this rally in the final half hour of trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.5 percent at about 6,620, clawing back from a 12-year low below 6,500 intraday.
The S&P 500 snuck into positive territory as things were settling, though still finished below 700.
The Nasdaq finished lower, capping their worst weeks since November.
The Dow finished above 7,000 last Friday, leaving it down more than 400 points, or 6 percent, for the week.
The CBOE Volatility Index, considered the best gauge of fear in the market, ended just shy of the 50 mark, up about four points for the week.
The late-day market-moving news was that Lloyds Banking Group reached a deal with the UK government for an asset-protection plan of about 250 billion pounds, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
The early pop came from the February jobs report: Employers clipped 651,000 jobs from nonfarm payrolls last month, on par with expectations, though the prior two months were revised to show many more jobs were lost than previously thought. The unemployment rate hit a 25-year high of 8.1 percent, much worse than expected.
"The actual [payrolls] number was better than expected and may indicate that we're near an end to the downtrend of that unemployment number," said Ken Homan, senior portfolio manager at Springfield Trust & Investment in Springfield, Mo.
But the market remains preoccupied with what's going on in Washington, Homan said.
"Weighing heavily on the market are fears that the stimulus initiatives ... aren't going to work," Homan said, and that there will be long-term consequences. Investors are worried that there's "too much money being poured into the economy, which will affect our inflation and potentially put a cap on the economy for several years."
The latest government rescue of American International Group was, in part, a bid to protect banks in Europe, Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) said. If AIG failed, it “would have precipitated the failure of the European banking system,” Kanjorski said.
AIG shares declined.
Other fiinancials gave up early gains, with Citigroup back around $1 and Bank of America flat.
Merrill Lynch has sued Deutsche Bank for what it calls a hiring “raid.” Merrill, now part of Bank of America lost its treasurer Eric Heaton and 11 bankers to the German rival.
And Citigroup is reportedly looking to sell its stake in Japanese online broker Monex Group in an attempt to raise cash, according to Yomiuri newspaper.
Citi was a high-profile casualty of Thursday’s widespread stock-market declines. The once giant Wall Street bank ended Thursday just above $1 a share, marking an 85 percent fall in this year alone.
Wells Fargo shares held onto gains after the bank cut its dividend to five cents from 34 cents.
American Express continued to slide for a third straight day, at times breaking below $10, after a pop earlier in the week amid hopes that the TALF plan will help ease the credit-card company's pain.
Shares of General Motors continued their decline off a Wall Street Journal report that the company is casting a more open mind toward the notion of a planned bankrutpcy.
Ford shares gave up early gains.
General Electric shares rebounded, moving back toward $7, after analysts at both Merrill Lynch and Bernstein Research said they don't see GE needing to sharply mark down assets from its finance arm anytime soon. Merrill also backed the company's assertion that it probably won't need to raise fresh capital.
Apple fell more than 5 percent after JPMorgan cut its price target and earnings target for the iPod and iPhone maker.
Other techs also tumbled, with sharp drops in Research in Motion , Palm and Micron Technology .
H&R Block posted a higher quarterly profit which it attributed to a hike in fees for tax preparation. The profit of 20 cents per share easily beat analyst estimates of 9 cents.
© 2009 CNBC.com
URL: http://www.cnbc.com/id/29551675/
SPX 666.79
Dow Ekes Out a Gain After Late Rebound
FUTURES, STOCKS, ECONOMY, JOBS, BANKS, POLITICS
Posted By: Cindy Perman | Writer
CNBC.com
| 06 Mar 2009 | 04:18 PM ET
Stocks staged a late-day rally Friday, pushing the Dow to a positive close, after a report that a major UK bank has reached an asset-protection deal with the government.
Stocks got a quick pop at the open an on-target payrolls report but then slid downhill for the rest of the session, taking more safety stocks with it, until this rally in the final half hour of trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.5 percent at about 6,620, clawing back from a 12-year low below 6,500 intraday.
The S&P 500 snuck into positive territory as things were settling, though still finished below 700.
The Nasdaq finished lower, capping their worst weeks since November.
The Dow finished above 7,000 last Friday, leaving it down more than 400 points, or 6 percent, for the week.
The CBOE Volatility Index, considered the best gauge of fear in the market, ended just shy of the 50 mark, up about four points for the week.
The late-day market-moving news was that Lloyds Banking Group reached a deal with the UK government for an asset-protection plan of about 250 billion pounds, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
The early pop came from the February jobs report: Employers clipped 651,000 jobs from nonfarm payrolls last month, on par with expectations, though the prior two months were revised to show many more jobs were lost than previously thought. The unemployment rate hit a 25-year high of 8.1 percent, much worse than expected.
"The actual [payrolls] number was better than expected and may indicate that we're near an end to the downtrend of that unemployment number," said Ken Homan, senior portfolio manager at Springfield Trust & Investment in Springfield, Mo.
But the market remains preoccupied with what's going on in Washington, Homan said.
"Weighing heavily on the market are fears that the stimulus initiatives ... aren't going to work," Homan said, and that there will be long-term consequences. Investors are worried that there's "too much money being poured into the economy, which will affect our inflation and potentially put a cap on the economy for several years."
The latest government rescue of American International Group was, in part, a bid to protect banks in Europe, Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) said. If AIG failed, it “would have precipitated the failure of the European banking system,” Kanjorski said.
AIG shares declined.
Other fiinancials gave up early gains, with Citigroup back around $1 and Bank of America flat.
Merrill Lynch has sued Deutsche Bank for what it calls a hiring “raid.” Merrill, now part of Bank of America lost its treasurer Eric Heaton and 11 bankers to the German rival.
And Citigroup is reportedly looking to sell its stake in Japanese online broker Monex Group in an attempt to raise cash, according to Yomiuri newspaper.
Citi was a high-profile casualty of Thursday’s widespread stock-market declines. The once giant Wall Street bank ended Thursday just above $1 a share, marking an 85 percent fall in this year alone.
Wells Fargo shares held onto gains after the bank cut its dividend to five cents from 34 cents.
American Express continued to slide for a third straight day, at times breaking below $10, after a pop earlier in the week amid hopes that the TALF plan will help ease the credit-card company's pain.
Shares of General Motors continued their decline off a Wall Street Journal report that the company is casting a more open mind toward the notion of a planned bankrutpcy.
Ford shares gave up early gains.
General Electric shares rebounded, moving back toward $7, after analysts at both Merrill Lynch and Bernstein Research said they don't see GE needing to sharply mark down assets from its finance arm anytime soon. Merrill also backed the company's assertion that it probably won't need to raise fresh capital.
Apple fell more than 5 percent after JPMorgan cut its price target and earnings target for the iPod and iPhone maker.
Other techs also tumbled, with sharp drops in Research in Motion , Palm and Micron Technology .
H&R Block posted a higher quarterly profit which it attributed to a hike in fees for tax preparation. The profit of 20 cents per share easily beat analyst estimates of 9 cents.
© 2009 CNBC.com
URL: http://www.cnbc.com/id/29551675/
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