Factory Orders

Fully Discounted?

For the first time in what seems like an eternity, the stock market did next to nothing during the session yesterday as the intraday range of the Dow came in at a paltry 155 points. This despite some pretty glum economic data, new worries over Goldman Sachs (GS), and more carnage in the auto sector. Thus, the bulls can be heard crowing about the idea that the vicious decline seen in October has fully discounted all the bad news that is likely to come out.

As we highlighted in our weekend report, it does appear that the drop of 42.3% on the Dow over the past year and the 45.8% decline on the S&P 500 is enough to discount a typical recession. We pointed out if one looks back at history’s Bear Markets that were accompanied by a recession (but not a depression); the average decline came in ...

September Factory ...

The Trading Radar highlights key earnings and economic announcements for tomorrow's trading session:

Before Market Opens:
Economics:
12am ET
Auto/Truck Sales for OctoberEarnings:
Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) - consensus EPS $0.69, revs $15.98B
Dean Foods (NYSE: DF) - consensus EPS $0.31, revs ...

This is a recap of this week's major news on Wall Street:

1. Following weekend long discussions on Capitol Hill, Wall Street began this week with high hopes. Politicians in Washington had finally agreed on an acceptable rescue plan for the US financial system and the vote Monday would approve the bill, averting a recession and saving the US economy... right? Right? WRONG! The bill was presented to the US House of Representatives and promptly voted down mid-day. Traders were devastated; the Dow Jones tumbled 777 points, making Monday's decline the largest single day slide in the history of the stock market. All was not lost, however. Just after the bill failed, regulators were already considering what could be changed within the legislation in order for House members to pass it. By Thursday, amendments to the plan were proposed and ...

 Roll Call

Here’s a link to listen to an Audio Version of the report:

In case lawmakers in the House of Representatives have any question about what kind of “economic response� they might get if they dink around and screw up this vote again today, Thursday served as a gentle reminder that things are NOT going to be pretty in the financial markets if action is not taken – and soon. While Thursday’s -350 point decline paled in comparison to Monday’s nearly -800 point panic, it is worth noting that the NASDAQ, Russell 2000, and S&P Mid-cap indices all dove to new lows on Thursday.

It may be true that many of the politicians elected to serve their constituents in Washington may not have a firm grasp on the concept of how the commercial paper market works (or in this case, doesn’t work) and they probably don’t have a clue how ...