Friday Outlook: 'Men at Work'

The above image says it all. I’d like to think that after 35 years of being involved with markets that I’d seen it all, but Thursday is one for the record books.

We started out the day with 'men at work' from Bernanke to Paulson. They’re an interesting pair, that’s for sure, but talk will only get you so far. Given the condition of Fannie (FNM) and Freddie (FRE) combined with Paulson’s breezy attitude you’d be right to assume that these firms will, for all practical purposes, be nationalized. Another bite in your wallet and a brush-off to 'Moral Hazard' concerns.

Oil was up around a dollar while stocks were struggling higher most of the day yesterday. Then, out of the blue, oil shot up $3 and stocks started to cave. At their nadir, indexes were sharply in the red as oil hit $5. But, in the end, that too got the brush-off as bulls stormed the futures market and got some buy programs going. Now, I know what many of you are thinking--the PPT [Plunge Protection Team, dba The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets] at work. And you know something? I wouldn’t be surprised since there wasn’t a reason for the rally and this government is determined to do whatever it takes to keep things rolling along. Let’s just say, it was a day for the professionals.

In the meantime, here’s how some prominent financial companies closed. And, as you view them, ask yourself if overall stock indexes can rally with these prominent companies in the ICU.

• FRE 7.95 -22.47%
• LEH 17.23 -12.72%
• FNM 13.02 -14.99%
• WB 12.98 -9.17%
• BAC 22.17 0.50%

Volume was again heavy due to program trading activity by [ahem] institutions. I don’t think there are many individuals tossing money over to their brokers in this environment. We also have two gifted blog readers assisting us with straightening out Yahoo Finance’s reporting. It may be worse than dealing with a government bureaucracy but what the hell, it’s worth a shot.

Here’s YHOO’s data for today. You can see breadth was just so-so.

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