Updated late Tuesday and Friday nights
Friday’s Close for Feb 20th, 2009
Written by: Mike Coval

See Mike Coval and Stacy Acevedo at the NY Traders Expo this week. Click here for details

It started off with a negative tone but some late day buying saved us from some heavy selling. I have to admit I was hoping for a bullish week but every good bit of news was met with even more liquidating. So where will next week go? At the moment we are still a bit bearish.

To watch a video of Friday’s market action, along with my thoughts, Click Here. The DOW closed down 100 points at 7,365 while the NASDAQ closed lower by 1 to finish the day at 1,441.

Energy: Crude prices originally fell on uncertainty over demand before settling flat. Late in the day, the price of crude futures were trading down $0.54 at $38.94 a barrel. Track the price of crude with the Oil ETF, USO.



This will be a short commentary this week since I’m on my way out of town.

Financials: So why all the selling? Some of it came from the financial sector over fears from looming credit card defaults and the potential for nationalization. Senator Chris Dodd said nationalization was a possibility for the sector. Those comments led to a dramatic selling period before a White House spokesperson stepped in to dismiss that idea. Citigroup, C fell 22.31% and JPMorgan Chase fell $0.70.

UBS fell 8.22% Friday after shareholders became nervous after a tax evasion investigation, according to Reuters. The U.S. has charged Swiss banks with helping rich Americans dodge taxes. UBS settled a suit earlier in the week. But investors sold off its shares and other banks there as it appears the country's notorious banking privacy rules may be weakened.


Economic News: Inflation appears to be on the rise. Core consumer prices rose 0.2% in January -- twice the gain economists had been expecting. The reading was consistent with Thursday's reading of the Producer Price Index, which came in unexpectedly higher.

Overseas, European investors drove stocks to their lowest levels in six years over fresh concerns about the continent's ailing financial sector. Japanese stocks hit a 25-year low after investors there also fretted banks could experience more trouble.

In international news, the housing bust seems to be accelerating in the United Kingdom. Data from the Times of London shows 219,000 homeowners were three or more months behind on their mortgage payments, up from 127,500 at the end of 2007. Lenders also repossessed 40,000 homes last year. Not a single European blue chip traded in positive territory.

Consumer Non Cyclicals: General Motors, GM dropped 11.50% subsidiary Saab filed for bankruptcy protection Friday and may be spun off from its parent company, according to the Associated Press. The move came after the Swedish government declined to inject money into the car maker. GM has asked Canada, Britain and Germany for similar help.

Good and or bad stocks to watch: PCLN, BIDU, MYL TOL, UTR, PNY

Homework Training: Feel free to leave any stocks you would like to have looked at in the comments section (below) and I’ll try and choose one of the stocks and add it to my analysis for all to read. Please tell your investing friends about this blog as well. It is here for you and the more comments I can get from you the better it will be.

Homework: None Today

Cheers,
Mike