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The Latest from the Financial Markets

Steve — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 02:09:12 +0000

Thngs were pretty steady this week. Get the latest news on the financial markets from our friends at Fox Business News! Happy Holidays!

Dow Dives Again

Steve — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:11:16 +0000

For the 2nd consecutive day after the election of Barack Obama as the President-Elect, the DOW suffered another huge hit today, losing 443 points down to 8695.79. Coupled with the 486 point drop on Wednesday, the two-day percentage drop of 9% is the steepest suffered by the DOW since October 1987.

The nation’s retailers announced huge decreases in sales during the month of October. In addition, Wall Street is bracing for another poor jobs report – set to be announced on Friday, November 7th.

While Republicans are clamoring that the DOW’s stiff drop is a direct correlation to the confirmation that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States (something Wall Street expected as the election drew to a close), most analysts said the losses were “more likely an indictment of the economic situation that will greet him when he takes office in January.”

See Matt Egan’s article on Foxbusiness.com – Another Sea of Red: Dow Dives 443.

Dow Up 300+ Points on Election Day

Steve — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:49:00 +0000

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9,625.28 today, up more than 300 points. The 305.45 gain (3.28%) was the largest gain on a Presidential Election Day since the 1.2% gain recorded when President Ronald Reagan defeated Walter Mondale in 1984. Some economists felt that the gain was a result of Wall Street’s relief that the election was finally coming to an end. Others felt the stock buy was due to the sentiment that a year-end stock market rally was on the horizon. With the Dow down close to 30% for the year, some investors anticipate that the 10-month sell-off is finally over and that now is the right time to jump back into the market before they miss out on the rally.

The next few months will be interesting. We’ll have a new President tomorrow, we still have a few more companies releasing quarterly earnings over the next week, and we’ll get a better idea of how consumer spending trends during the 2008 holiday season as the month of November closes.