CHESSNOID

The stock markets opened up very high and by the end of the day lost its momentum. Walmart lead the charge, but in the end investors wanted to lock in their profits and sold. It was very volatile. It’s hard to believe just because of 1 refinery oil jumped up to over $100 a barrel. That is really what scared the market.

Below is the Dow activity for the day with a trading range of (12,304.08 - 12,505.25):

Below is the Nasdaq activity for the day with a trading range of (2,300.10 - 2,352.79):

and lastly the S&P 500 activity for the day with a trading range of (1,345.05 - 1,367.28):

HP came out with some record earnings and great news. It jumped in after hours trading. I suspect the market will start out strong again. I just don’t know if it will have enough momentum to carry it through the day.

There was actually a lot of bad news in the financial sector but I think it didn’t seem to make it to the front page. I think it was muted because of Walmart’s positive outlook and Oil’s negative outlook. There was a quick blurb about it in CNN.Money:

Bank woes continue. Lehman Brothers (LEH, Fortune 500) fell 2.5% after the Wall Street Journal reported the brokerage could face a considerable writeoff due to its exposure to bad mortgage bets.

Credit Suisse Group (CS) slumped 5.2% after saying that it would have to cut its profit by $1 billion in the first quarter after traders overvalued its holdings in asset-backed securities by nearly $3 billion. The traders have been suspended, the European bank said.

Barclays (BCS) lifted its 2007 writedowns related to assets tied to U.S. subprime mortgages, but the European bank also reported profit that topped expectations. U.S.-traded shares jumped 9%.

Dow component AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) rallied 2% after financial weekly Barron’s said that the stock, following its recent selloff, is now a “screaming buy.”

Bond insurers were also in focus. MBIA (MBI) said Tuesday that Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Dunton was stepping down, to be replaced by its former CEO Joseph “Jay” Brown, who retired in May.

Ambac Financial (ABK) is close to finalizing a plan that would help it raise $2 billion in capital, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The additional money would help it maintain its top financial strength rating.

Credit ratings agencies have threatened to cut the bond insurers financial ratings, which would make it harder for them to generate new business, and would also cause another wave of writedowns for the big banks.

For all intents and purposed, I believe we are still in a down trend and just watching from the sidelines. Watching the market swings up and down has always kept me interested since my college days. I remember how the Wall Street Journal looked boring and scary to read with all them pages of numbers in numerous markets. Once I understood what it was all about, I would listen to the radio and wait for the market number updates every 30 minutes. Now with the internet and fast connections, I find myself checking it throughout the day. It is less stressful since I am sitting it out. Never the less, I am staying on top of the numbers and trying to determine if their are any technical signs to jump back in the market.