David Moenning's Daily State of the Markets: 4/20 Apr 20, 2009 09:34AM

Still Going…

Like the Energizer Bunny relentlessly banging that silly drum, the current rally in the stock market is “still going.” Although last week didn’t contain any really explosive moves to the upside, the banking results were good enough to help the bulls put up a sixth straight week of gains. And for those of you keeping score at home, the Dow has now rallied 1,584 points or +24.2% since March 9th while the S&P 500 is up +28.5% and the NASDAQ has tacked on an impressive +31.87%.


Despite the fact that just about everyone is looking for a pullback these days, stocks managed to finish higher again on Friday on the back of solid earnings from Citi (C), GE (GE), BB&T (BBT), and Google (GOOG) as well as a report out of the University of Michigan showing that their consumer sentiment index came in higher than expected.

The UofM/Reuters ...


David Moenning's Daily State of the Markets: 3/6 Mar 6, 2009 10:49AM

Probably Not What You Think

Stocks initially fell yesterday on disappointment over the Chinese effectively saying, “Another stimulus? We’re growing at 8% per year – we don’t need another stimulus.” But from there, the move down may not have been simply more of the same… i.e. more concerns about the banks, GM’s viability (did anybody really think they’d avoid bankruptcy?), Obama’s plans for health care, or worries about this morning’s numbers on job losses. No, a big reason for yesterday’s decline probably had more to do with rumors of fund blowups than anything else.

The talking heads on TV spent much of the day yammering on yesterday about the administration’s programs, the lack of confidence, and the “bargains of a lifetime” that are out there right now in some big name stocks (which is probably true unless, of course, they go lower first). And one of my colleagues even joined ...