The bears continued a sell off today, as the mortgage woes of the housing industry started to creep into credit card debt and other areas of the loan industry. After a huge sell off on Friday of last week, the US markets are once again looking toward a negative week on Wall Street. However, talk of a recession is still skeptical. Usually when the housing market sees a slump, a recession has followed according to history. However, with world markets strong, and a continual adding of jobs in the US, the problem right now is more with a week dollar and outstanding debt. The recent rise of tensions in the middle east has also driven the price of oil up to above $90, but it has slowly been creeping back down to below $88. Over the next two weeks, consumers in the US could see a rise of about $.20 in the price at the pump due to this recent rise. Look for the markets today to be a good example of what the week will be like. This could start being a good time to look into investing in some stocks that might rebound later.
The Dow has defied the slumping housing market and mortgage crises to once again reach a new high! The surge is primarily fueled by hopes that a rate cut is in store when the Federal Reserve meets at the end of the month. This is the first time in two and a half months that the Dow has crossed the 14k mark, and did so by setting another all time high. Citi Bank, one of the nation’s largest, had said that 3Q profits would be down almost 60% due to mortgage’s gone bad. However, their stock, along with failing Countrywide Financial Corp., were actually up slightly. The housing jitters have caused chaos for the last two months, but a cut in the interest rate by the Fed could serve to give the economy back the push it was seeing 3 months ago.
Recently, the US markets have been slowly making a comeback from the huge losses seen just weeks ago. The Dow has be creeping back up toward the 14k mark since that huge lost, hovering near 13,800 for about a week now. Recent reports about the slowing housing markets, consumer confidence, and news in the private sector have helped keep the Dow and the Nasdaq from making really significant gains. However, as the holiday season approaches, this could all change. If the US economy sees a break from gas prices while companies profit from holiday sales, the economy could be back on track to be above 14k real soon. Look for October to be the month where consumer confidence gets a more accurate prediction of the upcoming holiday season.
The US markets are still doing the ups and the downs, fueled by everything from oil to housing to the fact that tomorrow is 9/11. While the markets have their good and their bads days, it is safe to say that at least they are staying fairly consistent. The markets have been in the habit of gaining and losing about the same for the last two weeks. While liberal members of the government continually call for Bush to help the mortgage woes, conservatives seem to wonder if that is really the right thing to do. Is it always the job of the government to bail out people who have poor financial skills, or to bail out the corporations that feed on this area of the markets? Most Americans will probably tell you “no” as that would be using tax payers money to bail out those that made poor decisions. If that was the case, I could come up with a few bad decisions that I wish the government could bail me out of. However, like the average investor, I can absorb my losses and change so that I can make good decisions in the future….for the mean time, I am enjoying the roller coasters, trying to buy up the valleys and selling in the peaks!
With all the recent decline in house sales, the US markets are starting to suffer. The Dow Jones has lost close to 1000 points in the last 45 days, and the world markets are not fairing much better. Despite the recent surge of monetary input by the Fed, the investors are still not seeing a rise in the daily markets. Instead, the Dow had another huge 3 digit sell off today. These sell offs are all stemming from the extreme risky sub-prime mortgage area, in which lenders lent out to much money and owners started foreclosing, leaving nothing but debt for the lenders. As the Fed looks to correct some of these problems, look for either a cut in interest rates or more money being pumped into the markets real soon.
The Dow slid almost 400 points today after a scare went through the World Markets. The French markets started the slide, by freezing assets of mortgage companies that are about to go bankrupt. After a quick morning slide, the US markets seemed to be gaining some of that slide back. However, as more of the world markets and the European markets reacted, it caused a major sell off throughout the world. Besides being fueled by the mortgage crises in the sub-prime area, recent recalls of goods made in China have lowered the confidence level of traders. Look for tomorrow to be a big day for the markets, either continuing to slide, or making a slight gain. Anything big could come near closing.
Although many investors wanted to see a decline in interest rates, the Fed voted yesterday to keep them at the current level. This marks another vote to keep them at a steady pace, showing that the economy is maintaining itself, keeping inflation in check. Some investors were hoping for a decline, to help steady out the weak mortgage area of the economy. The extremely risky sub-prime mortgage area has been under a lot of fire lately, with companies going bankrupt after having to deal with to many foreclosures. But despite the rocky mortgage area, the markets are responding appropriately, with rises both yesterday and today. Look for the markets to continue to slowly move back up, regaining much of what was lost two weeks ago.
Rupert Murdoch has officially bought Dow Jones, adding to his ever growing list of news sites and business resources. This recent buy, just in time for his new FoxBusiness venture, will help Murdoch to further his global hold on the news, both economically and globally. In other news, the price for crude oil soared to a new high today, $78.76, after the US reported an inventory loss. However, refineries around the US reported a growth in production of gasoline, diesel, and other fuels. Refineries are now up to a 93% production rate. While oil has steadily been creaping up again, partly due to hurricane season, the price at the pump has continued to drop. Recent stations in South Carolina were advertising a $2.46/gallon price for regular unleaded, marking one of the lowest prices seen in almost 2 years.
As we predicted, the stock market is starting to correct the sell-off that it experienced last week. GM posted a profit over $800 million, showing that their re-structuring plan is working. Also, Consumer Confidence is at a 6 year high. Thanks to a drop in the price at the pump of gas ($.17 drop in the last two weeks for the national average), consumers are starting to spend more on school supplies, and even early holiday buying. Furthermore, the stability of the overseas markets have given investors more confidence to buy, showing that last weeks sell-off was more of a bump in the road than a crisis.
Thanks to another lackluster housing report, the Dow plummeted more than 400 points today. Although some of that has been gained back in mid-afternoon trading, it seems that the Dow will once again have another major loss. Just days ago, it recorded a loss of about 200 points. With the Dow so close to breaking another record, investors are worried that the economy might be headed into a recession. However, this has happened a few times in the last few months, and the US markets have continued to make up the difference and even gain back more than it lost. Look for tomorrow to be another big day for all of the US markets.