Market Comments for April 8, 2008 1) Earnings announcements started with a resounding thud today with Alcoa (AA) coming in worse than expected. 'Less than expected' will be the most commonly heard expression on Wall Street for the next four weeks. The Dow fell 36 points. 2) The market is starting to take the view [...]

Market Comments for April 7, 2008 1) The big news of the day was the Washington Mutual (WM) bail out. The troubled bank will receive $5 billion in financing through the issuance of high yielding common and preferred stock to a private equity fund. The stock soared 35% on the news in a market that [...]

Market Comments for April 4, 2008 1) Non farm payrolls came in at -80,000, much worse than expected. Earlier months had big revisions downward. The biggest loser: construction at -50,000. The unemployment rate jumped from 4.9% to 5.1%. It was the most brutal report since September, 2005. As I predicted, the economic data continues to [...]

Market Comments for April 3, 2008 1) Two days of Bernanke testimony in Congress come to a close. These are like watching the most brilliant professor in the school give a lecture and the Q & A is done by only the dumbest students in the class. Listening to Alan Schwartz, the CEO of Bear [...]

Market Comments for April 2, 2008 1) A $7 dollar rise in crude to $105 from the Monday lows put the stock rally on hold. This despite a near record 7 million barrel weekly increase in crude stocks announced this morning. Go figure. The Fed also hinted that it may pause its interest rate cuts [...]

Market Comments for April 1, 2008 1) UBS announced $19 billion in sub prime write offs and a $15 billion equity infusion. Their illiquid toxic waste will be spun off into a separate entity. My old boss, chairman Marcel Ospel, will retire in shame. This is what sparked the 391 point rally on Wall Street. [...]