The markets were trading lower this morning, essentially erasing all the gains from Monday's Ben Bernanke fueled run. While showing some sequential improvement, initial claims data came in significantly higher than expected, dampening enthusiasm that this recovery is anything but stubbornly slow. Not surprisingly, commodities are trading lower in response and oil is down 2% to $103.
Let's take a closer look at how the major indexes are doing and some individual stocks making headlines.
Index |
Gain/Loss |
Gain/Loss % |
Ending Value |
---|---|---|---|
Dow Jones Industrial Average |
(82.68) | (0.63%) | 13,043.53 |
Nasdaq | (31.03) | (1.00%) | 3,073.93 |
S&P 500 | (12.97) | (0.92%) | 1,392.57 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance as of 12 P.M. EDT.
What is startling here is how perilously close the Dow is to dropping beneath the psychologically significant 13,000 level, especially after the huge gains that started the week. The S&P has already let 1,400 fall and, while 3,000 is certainly not in jeopardy, the Nasdaq is the worst-performing major index, down 1%. Considering the lack of volatility so far this year, the Dow should keep the 13,000 through the weekend. But investors need to watch for a bearish sentiment taking control of market opinion.
Of course the IPO market seems impervious to the bears lately, as we have seen two successful IPOs in as many days. After welcoming organic foods purveyor Annie's
Conventional retailer Best Buy
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