Free Republic

The DJIA is off over 100 points, 136 points, to 12,686. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 are off by similar percentages. The carnage is particularly severe in a few sectors. News that JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) fired its chief investment officer reminded investors of how badly risk is managed at large banks. JPM has taken a $2 billion write-off its London traders took. JPM is down 2.81% to $35.90.Back of America (NYSE: BAC) is down 2% on similar sentiment about risk to $7.39, and Citigroup (NYSE: C) is down 2%. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is down 3.4%. Its debt will...

Unique may be the most over-used and misused word in the English language. Something that is unique is just that -- the only one. Unique cannot be used with a modifier. An object or person may be quite extraordinary or exquisitely rare. But to hear or read something or someone described as "very unique" sets my teeth on edge more than any fingernails on a blackboard. Apple (AAPL), however, does deserve to be described as unique. No other company could nearly double its earnings from a year ago and still be constrained by its capacity to satisfy demand for its...

STOCKS TANK IN FINAL MINUTES OF THE DAY: Here's What You Need To Know Sam Ro Oct. 7, 2011, 4:00 PM More signs that the U.S. economy is not as bad as everyone thought. But, big downgrades in Europe bring us back to reality. First, the scoreboard: Dow: -18 S&P 500: -10 NASDAQ: -27 And now, the top stories: * The highly-anticipated September jobs data came out with a bang. U.S. companies added 103k non-farm payrolls. Economists expected just 60k. The July and August figures were both revised upwards. However, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.1%, which wasn't a...

Stocks saw its biggest one-day gain since May 2010 Tuesday after a wild session as investors snapped up beaten-down stocks and following a Fed statement to keep interest rates near zero for at least two more years.

he Dow fell more than 600 points Monday, and had one of its largest plunges immediately following President Obama’s speech in the afternoon regarding the downgrade on U.S. debt. In his first public statement following the S&P downgrade, President Obama attempted to encourage Americans that markets still regard the U.S. government debt as being the highest possible grade. President Obama said, "Markets will rise and fall. But this is the United States of America. No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-A country." Obama said he hoped the downgrade would give U.S....

Investors spooked by both the downgrade of the U.S. debt late Friday and the direction of the economy continued to sell stocks Monday, sending market indexes down 5% to 6%. The Dow Jones industrial average fell by more than 600 points, dropping below 11,000 for the first time since November. The Dow fell more than 633 points, to 10,810.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was off 6.66%, closing at 1,119.46, and the Nasdaq Composite index fell by 6.9%, closing down nearly 175 points at 2,357.69. Another down day on Wall Street followed declines in overseas markets earlier in the...

People have been speculating about the prospects for QE3 since before QE2 even got off the ground. And with the recovery sputtering and stocks plummeting, the drumbeat has gotten even louder. It helps that Jackson Hole -- the conference where Bernanke announced his plans last year -- is right around the corner. And now the talk begins for real. WSJ's crack Fed Report Jon Hilsenrath interviews some former Fed officials (Donald Kohn, Vincent Reinhart and Brian Madigan) and finds growing support for QE3 IF inflation comes down. And inflation seems to be plummeting everywhere (oil is below $92, all the...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks plunged on Tuesday as fears about a weak U.S. economy were enflamed after investors got another disappointing economic report - this time on consumer spending. The selloff was so broad and so deep it pushed the S&P 500 into negative territory for the year and bond yields to their lowest levels in nine months.

Worries about the U.S. economy pushed stocks to the longest losing streak in nearly three years, sending the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index to a 2011 closing low. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 265.87 points, or 2.2%, to 11866.62, on Tuesday. The blue-chip index's eighth consecutive decline marks its longest losing streak since October 2008. It has lost 6.7% during the skid, dating back to July 22. This is only the sixth time the Dow has dropped eight straight days in more than 30 years.

Stocks sold off sharply to end at session lows Tuesday with the Dow down for an eighth straight day amid worries over an economic growth slowdown even after President Obama signed a bill to avoid a debt default.

The Dow closed below 10,000 on Thursday for the first time since early July a day ahead of an expected downward revision in U.S. second-quarter economic growth and a major speech by the Federal Reserve chairman. According to the latest available figures, the Dow Jones industrial average (DJI:^DJI - News) dropped 74.25 points, or 0.74 percent, to 9,985.81. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - News) lost 8.09 points, or 0.77 percent, to 1,047.24. The Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq:^IXIC - News) fell 22.85 points, or 1.07 percent, to 2,118.69. The last time the Dow finished below 10,000 was July...

A jagged July ends positive, and two battered bulls feel vindicated. First, a proprietary word: The Hulbert Stock Newsletter Sentiment Index (HSNSI) -- which the reflects the average equity exposure among a subset of the short-term market timing newsletters tracked by the Hulbert Financial Digest -- stood on Friday night at 35%, down from 47.5% on Thursday. Earlier this month, Mark Hulbert argued that the HSNSI's relative slow response to the market rebound off its July 2 low was bullish from a contrary point of view. Stocks are indeed slightly higher now, but so is the HSNSI. Mark Hulbert regards...

Stocks Post HUGE Surge: Here's What You Need To Know Joe Weisenthal Jun. 2, 2010, 4:00 PM Finally, the bulls didn't blow it in the final moments of the day, as major markets ended near their highs. But first, the scoreboard: Dow: +225 (+2.25%) S&P 500: +27 (+2.6%) NASDAQ: +58 (+2.6%) And now, the day's key stories: * The stock market rally was in itself a big story. Yesterday's collapse was deeply unnerving to the market, and the resignation of the Japanese Prime Minister appeared set to further the global nervousness. That the bulls didn't blow it is huge. Big...

CNBC Pre-Market Data. Dow Futures below 9000

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks cut losses but finished in the red Friday, ending a dismal month that saw the Dow Jones industrials suffer their worst May in 70 years, after a downgrade of Spain's debt reminded investors that Europe's economic woes continue. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 122 points, or 1.2%, after having been down as much as 186 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 index (SPX) fell 14 points, or 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) dropped 21 points, or 0.9%.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stocks took a sharp downward turn late Wednesday and finished solidly in the red, while the Dow closed below 10,000 for the first time since early February, despite some improving economic signals offered in the morning and following several sessions that found European sovereign debt concerns prompting a global selloff earlier this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 69 points, or 0.7%, to finish at 9,974. The move lower came after as much as a 90-point gain earlier in the day, emblematic of the mercurial swings that have dominated recent sessions just before the...

The Greek Way Of Spending Tax Payers Money Is A Mirror Image Of What Our Democratic Leaders Have Been Doing For 15 Months Now!! How Will Pelosi, Reid, Obama And MSNBC Explain Their Way Out Of This Debacle? {Being they are using the same economic policies of Greece}

Stocks fell sharply Thursday after an unexpected spike in jobless claims and as global jitters pushed the dollar higher. -snip- The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 300 points, or almost 3 percent, and the CBOE volatility index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, spiked more than 20 percent to above 43, its highest level in over a year.

Yesterday's Range on the NYSE Composite 6666.96 - 7259.19 If God can talk through a burning bush he can do it through the Illinois lottery numbers 666 after Obama was elected and through the Stock market numbers. Just one more thing to add for those looking for the warning signs...and another for those that say it is all merely coincidence.

Here's A List Of The Stocks In Which NASDAQ Is Cancelling Trades Henry Blodget May. 6, 2010, 9:30 PM NASDAQ is cancelling all trades made between 2:40 and 3:00 EDT in stocks that traded at more or less than 60% of the last price prior to 2:40. Here's a list of the stocks (and prices) the NASDAQ says are affected:[snip](Click to the site for the list)

Stock Market Panic Dow Crash 1000 Points Before Fed Steps in to Buy Stock-Markets / Financial Crash May 06, 2010 - 02:56 PM By: Nadeem Walayat The sovereign debt crisis shock waves emanating out of Greece triggered a stock market Free fall crash today as the Dow sliced through support after support to all the way below Dow 10k, hitting a low of 9,872 before the Fed as part of the Plunge Protection Team (PPT) stepped in to halt the panic selling and triggering an equally phenomenal a 700 point reversal less than half an hour from today's close. The...

gold up big, the contagion has lit the spark. Precious metals only safe port in the storm.

Fasten your 401k's folks.......

Crisis Would Likely Spread in Europe Before Crossing Atlantic, Economists Say; Wary Investors Monitor Credit MarketsInvestors and policymakers are starting to worry that the economic crisis in Greece could cross the Atlantic and undermine the U.S. economic recovery, in the same way that U.S. housing woes in 2008 battered Europe. "What we have seen is that contagion"—economist-speak for a spreading crisis—"has gone global," says Harvard University economist Jeffrey Frankel. Early credit-market indicators of contagion to the U.S. aren't yet flashing red, but investors are keeping a wary eye on them. "This is like we've agitated a colony of prairie dogs,...

See Chart

Dow Now Down Over 220 As Europe Explodes Gregory White May. 6, 2010, 2:09 PM The Dow is down 2.0% on worries over the European sovereign debt crises as investors move into less risky assets. Gold is up to nearly 1200. Volatility on the S&P 500 is up as well, over 13.09%: The center of all this, the euro, down against the dollar over 1.1%:[snip]

NEW YORK – The Dow Jones industrial average has closed above 11,000 for the first time in a year and a half on investors' rising hopes about the economy. The Dow edged up about 9 points Monday to almost 11,006. The Standard & Poor's 500 index came within a point of hitting its own milestone of 1,200 during trading but closed just short of that mark. A loan agreement for Greece allowed U.S. investors to focus on domestic economic and corporate news, including announcements of two big deals. European leaders agreed over the weekend to make loans available to Greece...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has surpassed 11,000 today for the first time since September 2008. Yet, the U.S. could still be in recession, according to a statement released today by the National Bureau of Economic Research's Business Cycle Dating Committee. The group of academic economists declined to declare the recession over. According to the stock market, however, Wall Street would beg to differ. Who's right? Possibly neither.

Dow Stock Market Trend In 2010 Equals Dow Bear Market Of 1929 Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market Feb 10, 2010 - 04:28 AM By: INO Is It Déjà Vu All Over Again for the Dow? In today's short video we examine the crash of 1929 and the similarities to today's Dow. This video is not meant to scare anyone, but to educate investors and traders of the possibilities that may exist in today's market. We could be, repeat, could be very close to a tipping point similar to that of 1930 when the Dow had ended a 50% correction to...

The stock market is falling as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke details plans for dismantling the central bank's economic support measures. Bernanke says in prepared remarks to a House committee Wednesday that the Fed likely will begin tightening credit by raising the interest rate it pays to banks on the money they have deposited at the Fed. That would lead to an increase in borrowing rates for consumers and businesses. The Fed chief cautioned that the central bank is months away before it's ready to boost interest rates.

Rumors Of Greek Bailout Produce Monster Victory For The Bulls Vince Veneziani Feb. 9, 2010, 4:03 PM All it took was a rumor about Greece to bail this market out. The Dow closed up 136 points to end at 10,045. The NASDAQ closed at 2147, up 22 points, and the S&P 500 gained 12 points to close at 1068. Energy led the rally today, followed closely by the insurance and consumer goods industry. Oil rallied $2 to close at $73.87 a barrel. Gold rose to $1077.70, up $11.50 an ounce. Silver gained $0.38 to finish at $15.46.

2010: Now Worse Than 2009? by: Bespoke Investment Group February 08, 2010 |Looking back on 2009, most investors will agree that the start of the year was a nightmare if you were on the long side. With that in mind, it's hard to believe that we're now down more in 2010 than we were at this point in 2009. Back in 2009, the S&P 500 was down 4.0% 25 trading days into the year. Barring a late afternoon rally today, the S&P 500 will finish its 25th day of 2010 with a 4.5% YTD decline. After starting the year off...

The Dow Jones industrial average closed below 10,000 for the first time in three months Monday on nagging concerns about debt loads in Europe. Shares of big banks pulled the market lower, extending a slump that has led to four straight weekly losses. Rising deficits in weaker European economies including Greece, Portugal and Spain have raised questions about the health of the global financial system.

STUNNING COMEBACK: Stocks And Commodities Back Into The Black Vince Veneziani Feb. 5, 2010, 4:02 PM The Dow was in the 9800s earlier today as all the major indices and commodities plummeted amid sovereign debt concerns, similar to yesterday. But unlike yesterday, a late afternoon reversal rallied the market and we're back to 10,000. The Dow gained 11 points to close at 10,012, the NASDAQ gained 16 points to close at 2141, and the S&P 500 gained 3 points to close at 1066. Commodities staged a comeback as well, though not as well as equities. Soybeans, copper, and energy did...

...never really goes out of style. They should have colors coordinated for the seasons, though.

DOW BREAKS BELOW 10,000 Vince Veneziani Feb. 4, 2010, 4:01 PM The Dow plunged below 10,000 today, and at 4:00 PM it was at around 9999.84. But same late ticks appear to have put it over the top. The NASDAQ: Down 2.75% to 2130 after a 59 point loss. The S&P 2.75% as well, dropping 30 points to close at 1066. Crude oil took an enormous haircut of 5.26%, falling to $72.93 a barrel amid the turmoil. Gold lost $50 to plummet to $1063 an ounce. Silver los nearly 6%, falling to $15.36 an ounce. Why did everything go sour?[snip]

The Bears Pull Off Another Successful Win As The Dow Closes Down 115 Points Vince Veneziani Jan. 28, 2010, 4:17 PM What a day to be short in this zero sum game we call the market! Equities absolutely tanked throughout the day. The Dow closed down 115 points at 10,121. Earlier, it was below the 10,100 mark prompting fears of a four-digit DJIA. The NASDAQ closed down 42 points, nearly 2%, to close at 2179. The S&P took one on the chin, closing at 1084, down 13 points. Commodities were able to make it work today, however. Despite all the...

Stocks trimmed losses by the close Thursday, but remained deep in the red, with techs falling after cautious outlooks from Qualcomm and Motorola. Ongoing worries about the labor market also gave investors a reason to retreat. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 115 points, or 1.1%, according to early tallies. The S&P 500 index (SPX) fell 13 points, or 1.2%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 42 points, or 1.9%. The Dow & S&P 500 closed at nearly three-month lows and the Nasdaq closed at a 2-month low. --- snip --- Later in the day, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was...

Dow 10,300: Mimicking The Bounce After The Crash Of ‘29 By Eric Fry 01/28/10 Laguna Beach, California – Let’s call it a victory. Despite spending most of yesterday’s trading session in the red, the Dow Jones Industrial Average staged a late-day rally to eke out a 42-point gain. Nevertheless, the selloff that started early last week has erased all of the Dow’s progress since November 9, 2009 – a day on which headlines gushed that the Group of 20 nations would continue to save the world by maintaining their economic stimulus efforts. Investors celebrated that news by rallying the Dow...

Another Big Disappointment For The Bulls, As Markets End Lower Vince Veneziani Jan. 26, 2010, 4:01 PM Despite meager gains yesterday and a lift off into the afternoon today, the major indices just couldn't take the sell offs and once again proved to be a disappointment for the bulls. The Dow, NASDAQ, and the S&P 500 all ended modestly lower. With China's economic lending tightening, the U.S. steel industry backed down and took a hit, as we previously discussed this morning. Gold was a winner, squeezing out a gain of $2.50 to close just below $1100. Silver was down 2%...

Over the cliff with Obama goes the market

Dow Ends Down 220, Largest Three Day Drop Since March '09 Vince Veneziani Jan. 22, 2010, 4:01 PM Thank God the market was open for only four days this week. The Dow took an extreme beating, ending the week down over 4% at 10155 points. NASDAQ: Not much better. Down 3.6% for the week with the S&P down 3.75%. Commodities suffered the same fate as equities. Down, down, and down. Oil: Down 2.4% to $74.27 a barrel. Gold: Down 1% to $1092/ounce. Silver: Down 3% to $17/ounce. It's tough to be a bull today.

President Barack Obama declared war on Wall Street as he promised to impose severe restrictions on the US banking sector in the wake of the global financial crisis, promising an end to excessive risk taking and to limit the future size of American banks. Taking aim at what he called the "excess and abuse" and a "binge of irresponsibility" in the financial system, Mr Obama pledged to "fight" the biggest US banks to ensure that "never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by a bank that is too big to fail

Dow Ends Down Over 200 Points, As Bloody Selloff Goes Two Days In A Row Joe Weisenthal Jan. 21, 2010, 4:03 PM This was ugly. A combination of mediocre earnings, jitters out of China and, possibly, Obama's new populist streak, absolutely hammered stocks for the second day in a row. The dow ended down about 217 (212.51), the second big triple-digit loss in a row. Big financial stocks got brutalized. This chart, via FT Alphaville, showing the divergence of large banks and regionals tells the whole story:[snip]

So what happened to the victory dance that was supposed to take place at the NYSE if Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy's Senate seat? At mid-day the Dow is down almost 200 points. Analyst Hugh Johnson says traders are viewing the Massachusetts upset through a different prism today. Today the reality is setting in that loss of Democratic control in Washington could mean less federal spending, less fiscal stimulus, less government support of a weak economy. He says the change in the political landscape casts a shadow over the assumption that if the economy were to falter again, the federal...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose broadly on Tuesday as investors scooped up healthcare shares on bets that a potential Republican victory in Massachusetts' Senate race could stall U.S. President Barack Obama's reforms and remove a threat to profits in the sector. The S&P Healthcare Index climbed nearly 2 percent, including drug company Eli Lilly, which rose 5 percent. Massachusetts voters were deciding a tight race on Tuesday to replace the late Edward Kennedy, a Democrat. The loss of one seat in the Senate could hurt the Democrats' ability to proceed to a vote on the planned healthcare overhaul that...

A stunning upset victory by Republican Scott Brown in liberal Massachusetts’ Senate race Tuesday would unquestionably be a significant setback to President Obama’s agenda. It wouldn’t simply threaten Democrats’ health care plans; it would signal that a slippery slope of expanding government and inevitably much higher taxes might become somewhat less slippery. CNBC host and one-time Obama supporter Jim Cramer is talking up the chances of “a gigantic rally.” HMOs, medical device makers, banks, and Big Oil could all rally in expectation that “a more pro-business, less pro-labor government could be in front of us,” says Cramer.

Former Barack Obama supporter Jim Cramer on Friday said the stock market would have a huge rally if Scott Brown defeats Martha Coakley in Tuesday's special senatorial election in Massachusetts. "I think investors who are nervous about the dictatorship of the Pelosi proletariat will feel at ease, and we could have a gigantic rally off a Coakley loss and a Brown win," said Cramer on Friday's "Mad Money." "It will be a signal that a more pro-business, less pro-labor government could be in front of us." The often outspoken CNBCer marvelously declared it a "Pelosi politburo emasculation" (video embedded below...