Taxpayers for Common Sense

Daily Market Commentary for March 19, 2009

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi,D-California said today that Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke deserves a part of the blame for American International Group (AIG) ****utives receiving $165 million in bonuses at taxpayer expense. (read more at Millennium-Traders.Com)

Economic data released today:

Jobless Claims:
U.S. Jobless Claims fell 12K to 646K for week of March 14 compared to survey of an increase by 3K; U.S. Continuing Claims for week of March 7 rose by 185K to 5,473,000; U.S. Jobless Claims revised for week of March 7 to 658K from 654K; U.S. Continuing Claims Highest on Record.

Leading Indicators:
U.S. Conference Board February Coincident Index fell 0.4%; U.S. Conference Board: February Lagging Index fell 0.4%.

Philadelphia Fed Survey:
March Business Index down 35.0 versus February drop by 41.3; March Business Index Expected lower by 39.3; March Price Paid down 31.3 versus February drop by 13.7; March Price Received down 32.6 versus February drop by 27.8; March Employment down 52.0 versus February drop by 45.8; March New Orders down 40.7 versus February drop by 30.3; March Shipments down 26.5 versus February drop by 32.4; March Delivery Times down 30.8 versus February drop by 29.2; March Inventories down 55.6 versus February drop by 24.3; March Business Index down 35.0 versus February drop by 41.3; March Business Index Expected to drop by 39.3; March Price Paid down 31.3 versus February drop by 13.7; March Price Received down 32.6 versus February drop by 27.8; March Employment down 52.0 versus February drop by 45.8; March New Orders down 40.7 versus February drop by 30.3; March Shipments down 26.5 versus February drop by 32.4; March Delivery Times down 30.8 versus February drop by 29.2; March Inventories down 55.6 versus February drop by 24.3.

At the NYSE closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, here is how the major world indices and major U.S. stock indices ended the trading session on the world markets as well as the emerging markets including the stock market closing bell price:
DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) loss of 85.78 points to end the trading session at 7,400.80
NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) loss of 38.08 points to end the trading session at 4,937.22
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) loss of 7.74 points to end the trading session at 1,483.48
S&P 500 (SPX) loss of 10.31 points to end the trading session at 784.04
BEL 20 (BEL20) loss of 8.79 points to end the trading session at 1,689.64
CAC 40 (CAC40) gain of 16.65 points to end the trading session at 2,776.99
FTSE100 (UKX100) gain of 11.94 points to end the trading session at 3,816.93
NIKKEI 225 (NIK/O) loss of 26.21 points at the end the trading session at 7,945.96

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 1,561, declined stock prices 1,543, unchanged stock prices 92, stock prices hitting new highs 6 and stock prices hitting new lows 8. NYSE quotes for volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the New York Stock Exchange stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: Apache (NYSE: APA) stock price gained 2.33 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $70.29, low on the trading session $66.50, with a closing stock price at $67.24; ProShares Ultrashort Financials (NYSE: SKF) stock price gained 13.44 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $119.86, low on the trading session $100.15, with a closing stock price at $119.10; ProShares Ultrashort S&P 500 (NYSE: SDS) stock price gained 1.97 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $83.86, low on the trading session $79.19, with a closing stock price at $83.31; Direxion Financial Bear 3X (NYSE: FAZ) stock price gained 4.05 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $30.97, low on the trading session $23.88, with a closing stock price at $30.40; CME Group (NYSE: CME) stock price shed 9.01 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $239.95, low on the trading session $226.49, with a closing stock price at $229.00; NIKE (NYSE: NKE) stock price gained 0.25 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $47.00, low on the trading session $43.25, with a closing stock price at $46.17; Claricor (NYSE: CLC) stock price shed 2.27 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $25.11, low on the trading session $23.05, with a closing stock price at $23.69; Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RTP) stock price gained 4.32 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $120.90, low on the trading session $113.54, with a closing stock price at $114.31; United States Steel (NYSE: X) stock price gained 2.12 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $22.45, low on the trading session $19.92, with a closing stock price at $21.29; Potash (NYSE: POT) stock price gained 2.10 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $81.90, low on the trading session $79.00, with a closing stock price at $79.40.

National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 1,236, declined stock prices 1,487, unchanged stock prices 176, stock prices hitting new highs 12 and stock prices hitting new lows 31. NASDAQ quotes, volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the NASDAQ stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: Oracle (NasdaqGS: ORCL) stock price gained 1.97 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $18.09, low on the trading session $17.35, with a closing stock price at $17.80; Sohu.com (NasdaqGS: SOHU) stock price shed 4.57 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $43.94, low on the trading session $38.67, with a closing stock price at $39.96; Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG) stock price shed 3.60 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $336.00, low on the trading session $327.38, with a closing stock price at $329.50; First Solar (NasdaqGS: FSLR) stock price gained 5.71 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $127.78, low on the trading session $119.00, with a closing stock price at $124.35.

Market trends on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) and stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 350, declined stock prices 226, unchanged stock prices 65, stock prices hitting new highs 3 and stock prices hitting new lows 13.

Chicago Board of Trade Futures Market for the day, at time of this posting:
E-mini S&P 500 (ES) June 09: End of trading session price 780.50; Change for the trading session -11
E-mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) June 09: End of trading session price 1,203.75; Change for the trading session -9
E-mini DOW $5 (YM) June 09: End of trading session price 7,350; Change for the trading session -93
E-mini S&P MidCap 400 (MF) June 09: End of trading session price 477.40; Change for the trading session -1.30

World Currencies for the Forex Market, for Forex Trading by active Forex Traders, at time of this posting:
Euro 0.7327 to U.S. Dollars 1.3649
Japanese Yen 94.53 to U.S. Dollars 0.0106
British Pound 0.6899 to U.S. Dollars 1.4494
Canadian Dollar 1.239 to U.S. Dollars 0.8071
Swiss Franc 1.1245 to U.S. Dollars 0.8893

COMMODITY MARKETS:

Energy Sector - Nymex:
Light Crude (April 09) gained $3.47 on the trading session for a closing price of $51.61 per barrel ($US per barrel)
Heating Oil (May 09) gained $0.09 on the trading session for a closing price of $1.37 a gallon ($US per gallon)
Natural Gas (May 09) gained $0.48 on the trading session for a closing price of $4.24 per million BTU ($US per mmbtu.)
Unleaded Gas (April 09) gained $0.07 on the trading session for a closing price of $1.44 a gallon ($US per gallon)

Metals Markets - Comex:
Gold (April 09) gained $69.70 on the trading session for a closing price of $958.80 ($US per Troy ounce)
Silver (May 09) gained $0.1.59 on the trading session for a closing price of $13.52 ($US per Troy ounce)
Platinum (April 09) gained $79.40 on the trading session for a closing price of $1,128.80 ($US per Troy ounce)
Copper (May 09) gained $0.09 on the trading session for a closing price of $1.81 ($US per pound)

Livestock and Meat Markets - Chicago Mercantile Exchange (cents per lb.):
Lean Hogs (June 09) gained 0.48 on the trading session for a closing price of 74.95
Pork Bellies (May 09) gained 1.53 on the trading session for a closing price of 91.75
Live Cattle (June 09) gained 1.73 on the trading session for a closing price of 83.13
Feeder Cattle (May 09) gained 1.68 on the trading session for a closing price of 95.73

Other Commodities - Chicago Board of Trade (cents per bushel):
Corn (May 09) gained 8.25 on the trading session for a closing price of 396.50
Soybeans (May 09) gained 25.50 on the trading session for a closing price of 940.50

BOND MARKET:
2 year Bond Closing price 100, change -3/32, Yield 0.86, Yield change 0.04
5 year Bond closing price of 101 3/32, change -13/32, Yield 1.63, Yield change 0.08
10 year Bond closing price 101 9/32, change -15/32, Yield 2.50, Yield change 0.06
30 year Bond closing price 97 27/32, change -1 20/32, Yield 3.61, Yield change 0.09

Thanks for reading
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I suppose everyone is at fault in some way.