The major averages were higher at midsession. The Dow has reversed direction a number of times. It was up as many as 40 points in the first few minutes of trading, and the Nasdaq was up by 5. Since then, the Dow has been down as many as 50 points.
The Nasdaq has been down as many as 17 points. Currently the Dow is up 0.2%, the S&P 500 is up 0.1% and the Nasdaq is up 0.8%. Declines in the averages came in spite of a $2 per barrel drop in the price of oil. Crude oil declined on news that China will raise fuel prices tomorrow.
Financial stocks are a drag on the market again today. Citigroup was off 79 cents to 19.61 after its CFO said it will have "substantial" further write-downs. Regional banks make up one of the worst-performing groups, continuing their trend for the year. BB&T fell 2.59 to 21.74 after an analyst said the bank may need to cut its dividend.
Bucking the trend, American International Group rose 83 cents to 32.34 following a brokerage upgrade. A brokerage recommendation also boosted shares of oil service companies. Halliburton was up 49 cents at 50.88. HMO companies slumped after Coventry Health Care cut its forecast for earnings. Coventry was down 8.83 to 31.17.
Economic reports were mixed. The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.1%, stronger than expected, but the Philadelphia Fed index of factory activity was weaker than forecast.
The NYSE was 8-7 negative on issues, 6-5 negative on volume. The Nasdaq was 7-6 positive on issues, 2-1 positive on volume. The 10-year Treasury note was down 19/32 to yield 4.21%.
Reported by Alfred E. Goldman, who is the Chief Market Strategist at Wachovia Securities. He been in the business since 1960 as a securities and market analyst, writer, and lecturer on investments. A weekly market report, which discusses his outlook for financial markets as well as the economy, is available for clients and is currently published in approximately 40 newspapers.
Source By http://www.agedwards.com/
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