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Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Uptick
Wall Street's Rollercoaster Ride Ends Red
Matt Egan
FOXBusiness
The markets ended a dizzying trading session in the red on Tuesday as another government rescue sent financial stocks soaring but recession worries weighed on the broader market, notably big-name tech companies.
Today's Market
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 76.62 points, or 0.82%, to 9310.99, the broader S&P 500 dropped 5.34 points, or 0.53%, to 998.01 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 65.24 points, or 3.54%, to 1779.01. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 fell 4.81 points, or 0.64%, to 748.20.
Turbulence continues to dominate Wall Street as the blue chips swung in a huge 700-point trading range on Tuesday. However, for the first time since October 1, the Dow didn't close the day with a triple-digit move in either direction.
Wall Street opened the day with a pop, as the Dow soared more than 400 points out of the gate and the Nasdaq Composite posted solid gains. The rally was fleeting, though as the markets sank deeply into the red by the afternoon before ending somewhere in between.
The back-and-forth trading session follows Monday's massive rally during which the Dow set a single-day record by soaring nearly 1,000 points, ending a devastating eight-day losing streak. Monday's rally was also the index's best in percentage terms since 1932.
“There is an elevated amount of anxiety in the markets still. That wasn’t solved by yesterday’s rally," said Michael James, senior equity trader at Wedbush Morgan Securities. "I think we got a little bit of an overshoot to the upside yesterday.”
The latest financial rescue efforts were headlined by plans for the government to directly buy shares of the nation's banks, the first such move since the Great Depression.
Aside from the rescue headlines, the markets were influenced by sinking crude oil prices and mixed earnings from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and PepsiCo (PEP).
Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) posted double-digit percentage gains to lead the Dow Tuesday. On the other hand, Coca-Cola (KO) was the largest percentage loser on the Dow following PepsiCo's disappointing earnings. Microsoft (MSFT) and Alcoa (AA) also saw sharp declines.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite posted much steeper losses than the broader market as tech stocks failed to join in the rally. Chip maker Broadcom (BRCM) and online retailer Amazon.com (AMZN) were two of the Nasdaq 100's biggest losers.
“There is a fair amount of nervousness about tech companies’ [earnings] guidance," said James. “We’re still likely going to be in a recession before this year’s over.”
That nervousness was most evident in shares of Intel (INTC), the leading chip maker that saw its shares tank ahead of its quarterly earnings report due late Tuesday.
New Rescue Efforts Outlined
Financial stocks outperformed the broader market on Tuesday thanks to another set of rescue efforts from the government that were unveiled before the opening bell.
The newest effort, which centers around plans to purchase equity in banks, is aimed at persuading banks to begin lending at reasonable rates again by shoring up their balance sheets.
The government said nine large financial organizations have already "indicated their intention" to participate in the capital injection program. An industry source confirmed to FOX Business those organizations are the nation's nine largest banks: Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), Merrill Lynch (MER), Bank of New York (BK) , State Street (STT) and Bank of America (BAC).
All nine of those stocks ended the day sharply higher, with JPMorgan Chase being the lone exception to the rule by closing with modest losses.
The government will inject $125 billion into the group of banks, receiving an annual dividend and warrants to buy common stock in return.
Also, the government released plans to guarantee senior debt of all FDIC-insured institutions even if the issuing institution fails or files for bankruptcy. In addition, the FDIC is seeking to restore confidence in the system by providing full deposit insurance for all non-interest bearing deposits.
"Today's actions are not what we ever wanted to do -- but today's actions are what we must do to restore confidence to our financial system," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said at a press conference.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke echoed that sentiment, writing in an Op-Ed piece in The Wall Street Journal: “We will not stand down until we have achieved our goals in repairing and reforming our financial system, and thereby restoring prosperity to our economy."
Rescue efforts that emerged last weekend out of Europe leapfrogged approved plans in the U.S., forcing the government's hand in releasing new packages.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices gave back earlier gains to end below $79 a barrel on Tuesday. The late-day decline in crude mirrored losses in the equities markets. Crude ended down $2.56 at $78.63 a barrel.
Global Markets
World markets stayed hot on Tuesday, building on record gains from a day ago.
London's FTSE 100 ended up 137.31 points, or 3.23%, to 4394.21. France's CAC 40 Index rose almost as much, closing up 97.02 points, or 2.75%, to 3628.52.
Japan's Nikkei 225 posted enormous gains overnight, surging 1171.14 points, or 14.15%, to 9447.57. The index had been closed on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 520.72 points, or 3.19%, to 16832.88.
Corporate Movers
Intel (INTC) saw its shares fall sharply ahead of releasing its third-quarter earnings report. The chip maker is expected to have earned 34 cents per share on $10.26 billion in sales, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecasted.
Bank of New York Mellon (BK) was hired by the Treasury Department on Tuesday to serve as custodian of its Troubled Asset Relief Program, the centerpiece of the $700 billion financial rescue plan.
Apple (AAPL) closed sharply lower after unveiling a new Macbook priced at $999 that features a graphics chip from Nvidia (NVDA). Some analysts had expected Apple to price the new laptop at $899.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) beat the Street with third-quarter earnings of $1.17 per share and $2.55 billion in sales. The maker of drugs and medical devices also boosted its outlook to a range of $4.50 to $4.53 a share, in line with analyst expectations.
PepsiCo (PEP) disappointed shareholders by reporting weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings, announcing plans to cut 3,300 jobs and lowering its 2008 earnings forecast.
Banco Santander (STD) acquired the remaining shares of Sovereign Bank (SOV) for $1.9 billion late Monday. The Spanish bank had already owned nearly 25% of Philadelphia-based Sovereign.
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