1.18.08

1.18.08

Wall Street will be closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. After the beating it has been taking, it can well use an extra day of rest. Equities continued their plunge this week. The weakness spread to markets around the world. Each time the Market attempts to rally, some news story turns it around. Stocks were able to move higher Monday following a better-than-expected quarterly report from IBM, but the gains didn’t last. Tuesday saw the major averages drop heavily after Citigroup announced a $9.8 billion loss for the fourth quarter and an $18.1 billion write-down. Further compounding the negative mood, the retail sales report for December proved to be weaker than expected. After the trading session was over, Intel released its Q4 earnings report, which missed Wall Street's expectations on both profit and revenue. The company also issued a cautious outlook for 2008. The news sent the markets tumbling at the open Wednesday. Despite a mid-day rebound attempt, stocks could not avoid additional losses by day's end. The major indexes opened higher Thursday but quickly reversed course after the Philadelphia Fed issued a regional manufacturing report that was much weaker than anticipated and housing starts fell by 14% in December. Despite President Bush's announcement of a $145 billion stimulus package to boost the economy, stocks continued their move lower Friday, not a good sign.                                                                                 
The Nasdaq 100, Russell 2000 and S&P 500 posted respective losses of 3.59%, 4.47% and 5.41% on the week. All the major indices remain well below their 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA).

We remain 100% in CASH, happy to not be a part of this madness.

Till next time

The MTA Staff