Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Stocks Caught in Post-Fed Reversal

A broad and rapid late afternoon selloff pulled stocks lower Wednesday despite a brief run-up on the Federal Reserve's decision to leave interest rates steady.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had pulled within 100 points of the 10000 mark in afternoon trading after the Fed announcement, declined 81.32 points, or 0.8%, to 9748.55. J.P. Morgan Chase fell 3% while Caterpillar, Cisco Systems and Pfizer each declined more than 2%, and just four of the average's 30 components managed to end with gains.

Blue chips saw a sharp intraday swing. The Dow touched an intraday high of 9917.99, up 88.12 points, or 0.90%, before hitting an intraday nadir of 9740.84, down 89.03 points, or 0.91%. By the close, the average had suffered its biggest point and percentage drop since Sept. 1. It has fallen in two of the last three trading sessions.

The whipsaw trading caused a jump in the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge of expected swings in the market. After hitting a 52-week low in trading before the Fed statement, the VIX closed up 1.8% at 23.49.

In what traders called an optimistic Fed statement, the Federal Open Market Committee said at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting that "economic activity has picked up following its severe downturn." The central bank's rate-setting panel voted 10-0 to keep the target for it federal-funds rate for interbank lending at a record-low range of zero to 0.25%.

The comments were in line with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments this month that the recession is very likely over.

The central bank also unveiled a strategy for reining in one of its extraordinary measures to aid the mortgage market by saying it would extend its $1.25 trillion of purchases of mortgage-backed securities into next year.

The Fed news initially cheered the markets, but investors soon began to unload energy and materials stocks amid a rout in commodities prices. The selling then quickly spread into other sectors.

The S&P 500-stock index declined 10.79 points, or 1%, to 1060.87. Its energy and financial sectors shed more than 2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index sank 14.88 points, or 0.7%, to 2131.42.

Oil markets sold off after the Energy Information Administration reported a 2.8-million-barrel rise in crude-oil inventories for the week ended Sept. 18. Demand was off 3.3%, or 628,000 barrels a day, to 18.5 million barrels a day last week, the lowest level since June 26. Crude futures dropped $2.79 to end at $68.97 a barrel, the lowest level since Sept. 14.

Moody's shares dropped 8.4% after The Wall Street Journal reported that a recently departed Moody's analyst, Eric Kolchinsky, says inflated ratings are still being issued by the company. Moody's shares have plunged this month.

General Mills rose 4.6% after the cereal maker reported a 51% profit rise and raised its fiscal 2010 earnings forecast.

Treasury prices were mixed. The two-year note was down by 1/32 to yield 0.964%. The 10-year note rose 10/32 to yield 3.407%. The dollar was stronger.

Wsj

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_7?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=panos+mourdoukoutas&sprefix=panos+m

MARKET IS APPROACHING 10000!!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment