The Motley Fool 10% Promise team sees all kinds of wild market moves every week, but every once in a while, something surprises me and teaches me something about the market. Here are a couple of things I learned this week.
The market finally got the news from the Middle East
Last week, I wondered why the market hadn't responded to unrest in the Middle East. Either I was a little early or the market was late. No matter what it was, this week we finally got a response, but it didn't come from the places I would have expected.
I figured we might see oil producers flashing 10% higher all week as oil jumped higher. But airlines and refiners were the first to hit our 10% list -- on the downside. The airline moves make sense; I don't think anyone was knocked out of their seat when US Airways (NYSE: LCC) and United Continental (NYSE: UAL) hit our plunge list Wednesday. Higher oil prices are bad on many levels for airlines.
But refiners are another story. All of a sudden yesterday, investors decided to jump ship from refiners, sending Western Refining (NYSE: WNR) down as much as 11% while competitor Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) also posted a significant drop. Yet with crack spreads (the difference between gasoline and oil prices) bouncing back yesterday, the timing seemed a little odd. It may have been a one-day move since both are substantially higher today, but I couldn't help but be surprised to see refiners as the companies moving the most.
The lesson: As unrest spreads in the Middle East, you never know who the market will push higher or lower on a day-to-day basis. Timing the market in the short term is a tough proposition, and guessing who is going to move can be even harder.
Bookstores are on their last leg
Borders has filed for bankruptcy, and this week Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) hit our plunge list twice as earnings and company actions did little to ease investors' fears for the bookseller. While fellow Fools Matt Koppenheffer and Tim Beyers compared the exodus to scenes in popular movies and TV shows, I couldn't help but reminisce about my childhood trips to the bookstore. My dad and I would regularly make the trip to Barnes & Noble for nothing more than a chance to wander and see what we could find. Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) may have largely replaced the need for bricks-and-mortar bookstores, but I can't help but think that we'll be losing something special if they go. Here's to hoping Barnes & Noble can pull through and keep a few shops open in the process, for old time's sake.
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More wild moves this week:
