Blue Chips Linger in the Red for '09

Blue Chips Linger in the Red for '09
Dow Industrials Come Up Short in Push to Erase Year-to-Date Losses

(Source Wall Street Journal)
Blue chips came tantalizingly close to turning positive for the year on Friday, but ultimately fell short amid volatile trading after a mixed employment report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 12.89 points, or 0.2%, to 8763.13, leaving the 30-stock benchmark down just 0.2% for 2009. Boeing shares leapt 4% and Hewlett-Packard rose 3.5%, but more Dow components fell than rose. DuPont, which suffered an analyst downgrade, fell 6%, and Merck, which said it's shelving plans to seek approval for a heart-failure drug this year, sank 1.9%.
The S&P 500-stock index slipped 2.37 points, or 0.3%, to 940.09. Its energy and basic-materials sectors were weak, tumbling 0.8% and 1.4%, respectively. The broad stock measure is up 4.1% for the year to date.

For the week, the Dow jumped 3.1%. It has gained in 11 of the last 13 weeks and gained 32% in that span -- the best 13-week period since November 1982, when it soared 34%. The S&P 500 rose 2.3% this week. It also has risen in 11 of the last 13 weeks, and climbed 38% during that stretch.

Energy stocks played a major role in stocks' gains this week, as crude-oil futures rose 3.2% on the week. But crude pulled back somewhat on Friday, settling down 37 cents at $68.44 a barrel in New York and throwing a little cold water on stocks.

"I think it's a little premature to get excited about the run in commodities as it's kind of a relief rally," said Stephen Lieber, chief investment officer for Alpine Dynamic Balance Fund. "There are people hopped up on the notion China and emerging markets will reinflate the world economy."

The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.60 point, or 0.03%, to 1849.42. It has climbed 17% this year, and was up 4.2% this week. It has risen in 12 of the last 13 weeks and jumped 43% in that time. The Nasdaq has surged 46% since it hit a six-and-a-half year closing low of 1268.64 hit on March 9. Read Article... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124419863671788589.html

US stock futures soar on fewer job losses

US stock futures soar on fewer job losses
Wall Street heads to higher open as report says employers cut fewer-than-expected jobs in May

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stock futures surged Friday as investors cheered a government report that said employers cut fewer jobs than expected last month.

The Labor Department said 345,000 jobs were lost in May, significantly less than the half-million job losses economists had been expecting and the fewest job losses since September.

However, the unemployment rate surged to a slightly higher-than-expected 9.4 percent from 8.9 percent in April, proving that companies are still reluctant to hire back laid off workers.
But investors looked beyond the higher unemployment rate and instead took the slower pace of layoffs for a fourth month in a row as a sign that unemployment is stabilizing.

Unemployment has been one of the most closely watched gauges of the economy's health throughout the recession. Rising job losses affect vast areas of the economy, including consumer spending, retail sales and the housing market.

Ahead of the market's open, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 113, or 1.3 percent, to 8,843, after being up about 33 points prior to the report. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures jumped 13.70, or 1.5 percent, to 954.20, while Nasdaq 100 index futures gained 14.25, or 1.0 percent, to 1,507.25.

UP AND DOWN WALL STREET DAILY The Market's Formula: A Square-Root Rally

UP AND DOWN WALL STREET DAILY
The Market's Formula: A Square-Root Rally

(Source BARRONS)By RANDALL W. FORSYTH
After nailing a 40% surge since early March, Doug Kass sees "potholes" in the road ahead.
LONG-TIME SHORT-SELLER Doug Kass shocked many of his followers by turning bullish at the beginning of March -- just before the stock market took off on a 40% tear.

Now, with the major averages up sharply from what he called at the time "generational lows," the skipper of Seabreeze Partners sees the road ahead to higher ground strewn with potholes.
Speaking at a conference presented by Barry Ritholtz, the money manager and author of the popular Big Picture blog, Kass recalled that when he made his bullish call in early March, stocks had been through their second-worst bear market ever in terms of price and multiple compression.
Price-earnings multiples had fallen to levels consistent with 6% inflation, while 46% of the Standard & Poor's 500 stocks paid dividend yields exceeding the Treasury 10-year note. Other valuation measures also were rock-bottom; stocks traded at 90% of replacement value while the market's capitalization was just 78% of gross-domestic product. Read Article...
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB124404271987981539.html

Analysts Turning Bearish on S&P 500 After 14% Rally

Analysts Turning Bearish on S&P 500 After 14% Rally

May 11 (Bloomberg) -- The biggest earnings-season rally since 2002 has pushed 34 percent of the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index above analysts’ price targets for the next year, raising concerns about the pace of the recovery.
The S&P 500 is within 5 percent of the combined price projections of more than 1,700 securities analysts after gaining 14 percent since Alcoa Inc. reported first-quarter results on April 7. Caterpillar Inc., the largest maker of excavators, and Citigroup Inc., the bank rescued by $45 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds, are among 170 companies that trade above their average price estimates, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
So far, analysts have resisted lifting price and earnings targets after the S&P 500 surged 37 percent from a 12-year low in March. The combination of falling profit predictions, rising valuations and higher costs for options that insure against losses are raising investor concerns that the rally may have come too far, too fast.
“To expect this to continue to move onward and upward from here would be unrealistic,” said Leo Grohowski, chief investment officer at Bank of New York Mellon Wealth Management, which oversees $132 billion in New York. “It would be healthy for the market to take a breather and allow some of the fundamentals to catch up.” Read Article...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVxRKebyGa5o&refer=home

Stocks slide on Monday Jan, 12th

Stocks slide on Monday Jan, 12th

Stocks went down on Monday the 12th of January on Wallstreet.
Citi shares went down despite talks with Morgan. Oil slipped below $38 dollar per barrel after weakening demand outlook. Falling commodity prices dragged energy stocks lower and reinforced fears that a slowing economy will further erode corporate profits. After bad news and outlooks in the past weeks, Wall Street is expecting fourth-quarter and full-year numbers arriving this week to be particularly bleak. Just before the bell the Down Jones (DJIA) was was off around 1.4 percent, the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 slipped about 2 percent.
The market is in anticipation of the 4th quarter and full year figures. Traders are cautious!