The Market Has Come to You

[Excerpted from Bill Cara's Daily Report]

Volume has disappeared. Traders are in cash and very unhappy at the state of the market and of the economy. It’s actually a good time to buy stock – the market has come to you.

On Monday, the US equity market was soft: DJIA (-31.62 -0.37% to 8483.93), S&P 500 (-3.38 -0.39% to 869.42), and NASDAQ Composite (-19.92 -1.30% to 1510.32). The Toronto Composite soared +326.74 +3.93% to 8637.29) as did the Venture Board (+45.99 +6.60% to 742.99). These markets had been closed since Dec. 24.

Earlier today, the international markets were mixed: Hong Kong (-0.65% to 14235.5) and Shanghai (-0.95% to 1832.9) were down; India (+1.92% to 9716.2) and Australia (+1.05% to 3591.4) were up. Japan was closed.

At 9:20am ET (vs 8:20am in brackets, the European bourses were strong again: French CAC +0.98% (+1.30%); German DAX +2.24% (+1.89%); and UK FTSE +1.19% (+1.14%). The oils were leading the bullish action again.

The leading sector was Energy (XLE +2.2%), while the losers were Consumer Discretionary (XLY) and Industrials (XLI) down -1.9% and Basic Materials (XLB -1.8%). The latter was dragged down by (Cara 100) Dow Chemical (DOW -19.0%), which lost a major contract, but seems quite oversold.

Of the other extreme traders among the Cara 100, the Indian banks (HDB +9.6% and IBN +8.9%) were up as expected. Teck (TCK +9.5%) was also a winner.

The goldminers did well Monday ($XAU +3.1%), as did the Oil Services ($OSX +3.0%).

$GOLD Monday gained +$4.10/oz to 875.30. Gold and silver precious metal prices are weaker today; the Euro is soft at 141.31, but starting to lift in the past hour.

Precious metal futures prices in the spot market are presently (compared to yesterday at this time): gold at 871.88 (876.21), palladium 181 (184.5), platinum 901 (904), and silver 10.87 (11.07). Gold is up about $5 in the past hour and silver +14 cents.

On Monday, Crude Oil ($WTIC) gained +$2.31/bbl to close at 40.02. These contracts had gained +2.36/bbl on Friday too. This morning, it is presently 39.15, dropping from 39.39 an hour ago.

DJIA futures are flat at 8500. The index opened at 9:30 up about +50 points to 8535.

Comments

[pooramerican:]

Any particular recommendation?

2008 Dec 30 07:17 PM

[Moon Kil Woong:]

Political instability is the last thing we need right now but is favored to happen as the global economy keeps eroding. Flag all growing global instabilities as a very dangerous signal. If they flare up and can't be rectified 2009 will look brutally ugly.

2008 Dec 31 02:59 AM