US stocks slip in another light-volume session, after a disappointing report on consumer confidence and despite hopeful signs in latest Case-Shiller report.
DJIA drops 47 (0.5%) to 9742, S&P 500 eases 2 to 1061, Nasdaq Comp loses 7 to 2124. Volume’s higher than yesterday, but still below average. Selling picks up toward the closing bell.
Conference Board says consumer confidence slipped in September. Case-Shiller index shows home prices rose in July from June, although they remain sharply down from a year ago. FDIC hits the banks up for three years’ worth of funding, showing just how far and wide the credit crisis has reached. I mean, how often does a government agency run out of money?
US stocks are on pace for their best quarterly finish in more than 10 years, yet it’s still nearly impossible to determine whether this ferocious rally is the beginning of a sustainable bull market or just a cyclical run-up amid a much deeper bear market.
The Dow closed down 47 at 9742, cutting into yesterday’s 124-point gain, but the index is still on pace for its best quarterly performance since 4Q98. Despite the rally, treasury yields have dropped to levels last seen in the spring, prompting concern about the underlying reason for the increased demand.
“Investors’ appetite for long-term Treasuries could be a bad sign for the economy, if it’s based on buyers’ desire to lock in safe fixed returns because they believe the economic recovery will be cut short,” says LA Times’ Money & Co blogger Tom Petruno.
The 30-year Treasury bond at 4.03% is an important level to watch. He cites Tony Crescenzi, a bond portfolio manager at Pimco, who says a slide through the 4% level would suggest a “breakdown” of faith concerning the economic recovery.
Nevertheless, stocks have gained nearly 15% in 3Q, with the quarter officially coming to an end tomorrow. But even amid the rising stock market, many bearish indicators are still prevalent.
Posted by Steven Russolilloon September 29, 2009 Banks, Washington /
Comments Off
Newswires’ Marshall Eckblad reports:
Bashing bailed-out banks is becoming a booming business for the nation’s small banks.
“Why should Texans bank with out-of-state carpetbaggers?” asks a new ad campaign by the Texas Dow Employees Credit Union. Another of the lender’s ads excoriates the U.S. mega-banks for “taking taxpayer money and paying themselves billions in bonuses.”
The ad continues, “We respectfully suggest they head on home and make their profits in their own backyard.”
There’s certainly no shortage of public rage being directed at large banks these days. And some Main Street banks think they can use that rage to poach some customers.
With the yen quickly falling through the Y90 level to the dollar (although currently it is just above the mark,) the new Japanese government, which noisily said it wouldn’t intervene in currency markets, is already being tested, and they may be forced to backtrack on that particular notion, as Dow Jones’ Nick Hastings explains.
Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, who famously said back in 2005 the Fed was in the eighth inning in its fight with inflation, was back in the metaphor game yesterday, opining in the Journal that so-called “too big to fail” banks are like some all-consuming blob in a science fiction movie.
Fans of campy science fiction films know all too well that outsized monsters can wreak havoc on an otherwise peaceful and orderly society.
But what B-movie writer could have conjured up this scary scenario—Too Big To Fail (TBTF) banks as the Blob that ate monetary policy and crippled the global economy? That’s just about what we’ve seen in the financial crisis that began in 2007.
It’s an amusing analogy, but it’s missing a critical element: the mad scientist who created the deadly mass and loosed it upon the world.
In a season of undesirable anniversaries, today represents another one. One year ago today, the Dow fell 778 points, a record in point terms, as investors panicked after Congress voted against the bank bailout (before it voted for it. Flip floppers.) It’s been some ride since then, eh, kids?
Bulls showed yesterday they haven’t really lost a step, chalking up a feisty rally after a week of playing rope-a-dope with bears. But there’s no M&A news breaking this morning to boost the vibe, and all the buying related to 3Q portfolio padding (in thin volume) is probably finished, so follow-through may be a bit tricky.
July Case-Shiller home price index due at 9:00am, followed by Conference Board’s September consumer confidence reading at 10:00am. Data needs to dance the cha-cha in order to help drive stocks higher. Dallas Fed’s Fisher also scheduled to speak about the economy around the same time.
S&P futures down 1.50; DJ futures down 11. Ten-year shaded higher, yield at 3.29%.
J.P. Morgan reported some strong earnings today. But what this bloggers eye were some of the sub-numbers in the earnings report. The bank booked $1.8 billion in investment banking fees. But don’t be fooled – that wasn’t from big M&A advising. But $429 million was in advisory fees. Instead, that $1.3 billion + remaining fees […]
It doesn’t look like George Zimmer is going to be able to guarantee it, anymore. The founder of Men’s Wearhouse has been fired from his own company, the clothier announced today. Click here to read the announcement. “The Board expects to discuss with Mr. Zimmer the extent, if any, and terms of his ongoing relationship […]
