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Who needs housing anyhow? The economic news out of the US continues to be dire, and tonight there is the addd spectacle of the sitting Preznit (Awol McIdiot) showing a TV audience of 200 milion that he can't read an autocue without screwing up his face (and he's worse when being guided by the voices through the earpiece).
Bush's stimulyfiyin' planification isn't gonna amount to a hill o' beans - primarily because
- two thirds of it goes to the two 2 quintiles (who aren't liquidity constrained right now, and won't therefore spend the dough) and
- the import intensivity of discretionary consumption expenditure is about 54%... so every dollar of extra Consumption spending results in a 54c increase in imports...
Thus the overall effect of the plan is (watch the numbers fly)... 0.4x0.46x1%... or about 0.2% of GDP - TOPS. If the US wanted to save 0.2% of GDP, it could decide not to wage war for a month. Give us all a break.
Still, the faster they dig themselves into a terminal hole, the sooner the rest of the world can stop shaking its head in dismay. It's like being in a restaurant and hearing some 18 year old bodybuilder at anther table, banging on about how much he can bench. (I may have done many odious things when i was on the gear, but I didn't do that).
Economic News
There was only one economic number today, and it stunk like the hole where Dick Chicanery's conscience ought to reside.
December new home sales registered a 4.7% fall to 604K - the lowest number since 1995. Consensus was at 645k. The November number was also revised downward, from 647k to 634k. So between October 2007 and December 2007, new home sales dropped by just under 17%.
But it gets better - since the peak in the series (July 2005), new home sales are down by a tad over 57% - that's a decline of Nasdaq-ian proportions.
As with last week's report from the MBA, median prices also declined within this report; a whopping 10.4% year over year, and over 17% from the high in March 2007.
In other words, there are a load of people who went into a house (pretty much anyone who bought with 100% leverage since 2005), who now have negative equity.
Tomorrow sees Durable Goods orders (consensus for +1.5%, basis non-defence capex ex aircraft), and Consumer Confidence (tippd to soften a tad to the 87ish, but don't be surprised if it comes in below 85). Won't that be interesting...
Fed Open Market Operations
The Fed did one repurchase operations today - an overnight repurchase of $10.25 billion, but only the last 0.25 was in Treasury-backed.
No grease for you, the Fed keeps saying to da Boyz. Still, everyone is so absolutely sure that they are going to cut again on Wednesday, that stocks went up anyway... you know how it is; earnings slowing ,housing dying, consumers tapped out... but the cost of money is being held artificially low by the Sovietised Fed, so everyone i awash in liquidity. And nobody thinks it can possibly end badly (now where did I hear that before.... was it housing? tech stocks? yen carry? Hmmm... I just KNOW I've heard "it can't end badly" before...).
Headline Indices
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 176.72 points (1.45%) to 12383.89 points. The index high for the day was 12386.01 just minutes before the close, while the low of 12112.14 was set just after 10:10 a.m. NY time. Only 3 of the 30 Dow components fell.
Major Advancers in the Dow were
- JP MorganChase (JPM) rose 1.93 (4.42%) to 45.57 on volume of 29.5 million units
- American Express (AXP) added 1.96 (4.31%) to 47.4 on volume of 8 million units
- Citigroup (C) gained 1.01 (3.79%) to 27.65 on volume of 79.9 million units
- Caterpillar (CAT) was up 2.28 (3.46%) to 68.21 on volume of 9.4 million units
- AT&T. (T) rose 1.14 (3.23%) to 36.4 on volume of 34.5 million units
Major Decliners in the Dow were
- McDonalds (MCD) fell -3.03 (-5.6%) to 51.07 on volume of 48.2 million units
- Microsoft (MSFT) dipped -0.22 (-0.67%) to 32.72 on volume of 80.5 million units
- Procter & Gamble (PG) shed a measly -0.02 (-0.03%) to 65.29 on volume of 10 million units
Most Traded Dow stocks were
- Microsoft (MSFT) dropped 0.22 (-0.67) to 32.72 on volume of 80.5 million units
- Citigroup INC (C) rose 1.01 (3.79) to 27.65 on volume of 79.9 million units
- Intel (INTC) rose 0.29 (1.45) to 20.29 on volume of 68.4 million units
- McDonalds (MCD) fell -3.03 (-5.6) to 51.07 on volume of 48.2 million units
- Pfizer(PFE) rose 0.38 (1.68) to 22.99 on volume of 37.2 million units
The S&P500 Index advanced 23.36 points (1.76%) to 1353.97 points.
The Nasdaq Composite advanced +23.71 points (1.02%) to 2349.91 pointswhile the Nasdaq100 advanced +15.91 points (0.89%) to 1805.08 points. The CBOE Volatility Index lost 1.43 points (4.92%) to 27.65 points - oddly sedate considering the huge move in the underlying indices. The CBOE Nasdaq100 Volatilty Index lost 1.23 points (3.64%) to 32.58 points.
NYSE Total Volume totalled 3.76billion units, of which 86% (3.2 billion units) was transacted in gainers (numbering 2589). The 758 decliners only amassed 512 million shared between them. 22 NYSE stocks hit new 52-week highs, and 81 plumbed new lows.Nasdaq Total Volume totalled 2.03billion units. The 1972 advancing Nasdaq listings traded 1.37 billion shares between them, while the 1036 losers traded a total of 582 million units. 45 Nasdaq listings tested (and broke) their 52-week highs, while 119 did the same to their lows.
| Major Market Statistics | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 12383.89 | +176.72 | 1.45% |
| S&P500 Index | 1353.97 | +23.36 | 1.76% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 2349.91 | +23.71 | 1.02% |
| Nasdaq100 | 1805.08 | +15.91 | 0.89% |
| CBOE Volatiity Index | 27.65 | -1.43 | -4.92% |
| CBOE Nasdaq100 Volatilty Index | 32.58 | -1.23 | -3.64% |
| NYSE Total Volume | 3.89bn | - | - |
| Nasdaq Total Volume | 2.03bn | - | - |
Precious Metals
Gold added another $17.40 an ounce to close at another new high at $928 an ounce (basis front-month futures). Silver added 27.5c an ounce to $16.76 an ounce (again, basis front month futures).
The Gold Bugs Index added 2.9 (1.54%) to 188.44 points. Index volume totalled 94.3 million shares. Of the 16 index components, 12 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 77.8 million units. Of the remaining 4 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 16.5 million shares.
Major movers in the same direction as the index:
- Yamana Gold Inc (AUY), up 0.76 (4.87%) to $16.38 on volume of 15.2 million shares
- Royal Gold Inc (RGLD), up 1.12 (3.7%) to $31.35 on volume of 984.5 thousand shares
- Newmont Mining (NEM), up 1.96 (3.68%) to $55.22 on volume of 9.2 million shares
- Pan American Silver (PAAS), up 1.11 (3.15%) to $36.34 on volume of 1.4 million shares
Energy
Crude Oil added 23c and is looking to consolidate again above $90, having put the wind up the nuffnuffs in no uncertain terms. It closed at $90.94, but to really be safe it needs two sessions with a low above $90 (today's low was $88 and change).
The Oil Services Index added 5.28 (1.98%) to 267.16 points. Index volume totalled 67.6 million shares. Of the 15 index components, 15 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 67.6 million units. Of the remaining 0 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 0 million shares.
Major movers in the same direction as the index:
- Weatherford Intl (WFT), up 3.46 (5.61%) to $65.09 on volume of 5.8 million shares
- Bj Services Co (BJS), up 0.97 (4.72%) to $21.53 on volume of 5.6 million shares
- Tidewater Inc (TDW), up 1.51 (3.03%) to $51.29 on volume of 1.5 million shares
- Nabors Inds Inc N (NBR), up 0.75 (2.86%) to $26.94 on volume of 4 million shares
Bellwethers
The nine-stock group that makes up the Rant bellwethers advanced on average by 1.3%. The fallout occurred as follows:
- General Electric (GE) up $+0.72 (2.12%) to $34.72 on volume of 34.24 million units.
- Citigroup (C) up $+1.01 (3.79%) to $27.65 on volume of 79.91 million units.
- Wal-Mart (WMT) up $+0.62 (1.29%) to $48.71 on volume of 20.53 million units.
- IBM (IBM) up $+0.46 (0.44%) to $104.98 on volume of 7.59 million units.
- Intel (INTC) up $+0.29 (1.45%) to $20.29 on volume of 68.39 million units.
- Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $0.1 (0.41%) to $24.10 on volume of 60.29 million units.
- Google (GOOG) down $10.42 (1.84%) to $555.98 on volume of 5.79 million units.
- Fannie Mae (FNM) up $+1.24 (3.9%) to $33.04 on volume of 9.79 million units.
- Freddie Mac (FRE) up $+0.32 (1.08%) to $29.90 on volume of 9.42 million units.
Other Indices of Interest...
The Banks Index added 3.13 (3.49%) to 89.59 points. Index volume totalled 329.4 million shares. Of the 24 index components, 23 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 321.6 million units. Of the remaining 1 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 7.8 million shares.
Major movers in the same direction as the index:
- Capital One Financial (COF), up 3.38 (7.27%) to $49.89 on volume of 10 million shares
- Huntington Bancshares (HBAN), up 0.84 (7.16%) to $12.58 on volume of 7 million shares
- Washington Mutual (WM), up 0.89 (5.52%) to $17.01 on volume of 20.1 million shares
- Suntrust Banks (STI), up 3.26 (5.21%) to $65.82 on volume of 3.7 million shares
The Semiconductor Index added 5.23 (1.45%) to 359.73 points. Index volume totalled 221.3 million shares. Of the 18 index components, 14 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 193.7 million units. Of the remaining 4 stocks in the index, 3 fell, with total volume traded of 16.6 million shares.
Major movers in the same direction as the index:
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), up 0.31 (4.34%) to $7.46 on volume of 18.6 million shares
- Altera (ALTR), up 0.7 (3.88%) to $18.72 on volume of 6.1 million shares
- Applied Materials (AMAT), up 0.53 (3.04%) to $17.95 on volume of 16.3 million shares
- Marvell Tech Group (MRVL), up 0.35 (3.04%) to $11.88 on volume of 10.9 million shares
The ChildKiller ("Defence") Index added 4.08 (1.11%) to 367.38 points. Index volume totalled 60.4 million shares. Of the 17 index components, 15 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 59.2 million units. Of the remaining 2 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 1.2 million shares.
Major movers in the same direction as the index:
- Embraer Empresa B (ERJ), up 1.15 (2.81%) to $42.13 on volume of 663 thousand shares
- Gencorp (GY), up 0.29 (2.73%) to $10.93 on volume of 345.1 thousand shares
- General Electric (GE), up 0.72 (2.12%) to $34.72 on volume of 34.2 million shares
- General Dynamics (GD), up 1.67 (2.06%) to $82.80 on volume of 2.1 million shares
