Investors Bail on Tanking Bear Stearns

Daily Market Commentary for March 14, 2008 from Millennium-Traders.Com

The street revolved around Bears Stearns Companies Incorporated (BSC) today. Simply put, they got hammered, smashed, creamed or what ever term you could think of today creating a serious, extensive wave of downturn that rolled across the entire markets, pushing the DOW past a 200 point loss. The situation was so severe that the Fed jumped in to assist in the bailout of the very troubled company, with the assistance of JP Morgan. The negative momentum created after Bear Stearns announced that they would be out of business within days without a bailout, was over powering for many day traders as they stampeded in to capitalize on short selling Bear as well as, many others in the same industry. Investors on the other hand, no doubt had one choice, bail on their holdings in Bear and focus on licking their gouging wounds. The banking industry is by far, one of the least sought after investment sectors during this very troubled time in our economy where most conclude, we are in fact deep in a very serious recession. The Dollar is yet another victim, as it continues to lose ground against many other currencies including, the Swiss Franc.

At the closing bell on the Stock Exchange, here is how the major indices ended the session on the U.S. Markets:

DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) triple digit loss of 194.65 points on the day to end the session at 11,951.09

NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) triple digit loss of 191.23 points to end the session at 8,635.93

NASDAQ loss of 51.12 points for a close at 2,212.49

S&P 500 loss of 27.34 points for a close at 1,288.14

FTSE All-World ex-U.S. loss of 0.12 points to close at 236.31

FTSE RAFI 1000 triple digit loss of 117.69 points to close at 5,251.38

BEL 20 loss of 29.16 points to close at 3,676.88

CAC 40 loss of 38.04 points to close at 4,592.15

FTSE100 loss of 60.7 points to close at 5,631.70

NIKKEI 225 unchanged at 12,433.40

On the NYSE today, advancers came in at 528, decliners totaled 2,647; unchanged came in at 74; new highs came in at 50 and new lows came in at 279. Momentum NYSE stocks traded by active Day Traders today: The Bear Stearns Companies, Incorporated (BSC) shed 27.10 points with a high on the day of $54.79, a low of $26.85 for a closing price at $29.90; Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR) shed 3.63 points with a high on the day of $113.10, a low of $106.79 for a closing price at $108.24; CME Group, Incorporated (CME) shed 18.32 points with a high on the day of $514.59, a low of $479.13 for a closing price at $488.53; Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated (GS) shed 8.39 points with a high on the day of $167.80, a low of $155.32 for a closing price at $157.05; Mastercard Incorporated (MA) shed 1.04 points with a high on the day of $215.10, a low of $204.00 for a closing price at $208.65; AnnTaylor Stores Corporation (ANN) shed 1.89 points with a high on the day of $23.28, a low of $21.17 for a closing price at $22.01; Clear Channel Communications Incorporated (CCU) shed 0.40 points with a high on the day of $34.99, a low of $30.76 for a closing price at $34.59; LDK Solar Corporation Limited (LDK) gained 0.84 points with a high on the day of $29.35, a low of $23.96 for a closing price at $26.12; Mosaic Corporation (MOS) shed 1.70 points with a high on the day of $112.00, a low of $104.25 for a closing price at $107.23; CF Industries Holdings, Incorporated (CF) shed 4.08 points with a high on the day of $123.21, a low of $112.51 for a closing price at $116.13.

On the NASDAQ today, advanced totaled 657; decliners totaled 2,287; unchanged came in at 107; new highs came in at 14 and new lows came in at 254. Momentum NASDAQ stocks traded by active Day Traders today: First Solar, Incorporated (FSLR) shed 6.45 points with a high on the day of $214.93, a low of $195.01 for a closing price at $200.84; GFI Group Incorporated (GFIG) shed 5.95 points with a high on the day of $72.47, a low of $64.46 for a closing price at $65.12; FCStone Group, Incorporated (FCSX) shed 2.84 points with a high on the day of $40.00, a low of $33.37 for a closing price at $36.06.

University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Mid-March Sentiment came in at 70.5 compared to February Sentiment of 70.8; University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Mid-March Current Index came in at 84.6 compared to February Current Index at 83.8; University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Mid-March Expectations came in at 61.4 compared to February Expectations of 62.4; University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment 5-Year Inflation Forecast rose by 2.9% compared to February 5-Year Inflation Forecast of increase by 3.0%; University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment 12-Month Inflation Forecast rose by 4.5% compared to February 12-Month Inflation Forecast of an increase by 3.6%.

U.S. Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in Flat for first time since November 2006; U.S. Real Average Weekly Earnings rose 0.3% in February; U.S. February CPI Energy Prices fell 0.5%; U.S. February CPI Food Prices increased by 0.4%; U.S. February CPI Unrounded increased by 0.026%; U.S. February CPI Core increased by 0.040%; U.S. February CPI Excluding-Food & Energy remained Unchanged compared to Consensus of an increase by 0.2%; U.S. February Consumer Prices Unchanged compared to Consensus of an increase by 0.2%.

Commodities Markets
The trend was mixed across the board today for the Energy Sector: Light crude moved lower today by $0.12 to close at $110.21 a barrel; Heating Oil closed with no change at $3.04 a gallon; Natural Gas moved lower today by $0.35 to close at $9.96 per million BTU and Unleaded Gas moved higher today by $0.01 to close at $2.69 a gallon.

Metals Markets ended the session mostly higher across the board today: Gold moved higher today by $6.20 to close at $1,000.00 a Troy ounce; Silver moved higher today by $0.24 to close at $20.66 per Troy ounce; Platinum moved sharply lower today by $21.50 to close at $2,076.00 per Troy ounce and Copper closed with no change at $3.83 per pound.

On the Livestock and Meat Markets, the trend was mostly lower across the board today: Lean Hogs ended the day lower by $2.98 to close at $70.13; Pork Bellies ended the day lower by $0.73 to close at $80.08; Live Cattle ended the day lower by $0.03 to close at $90.95 and Feeder Cattle ended the day higher by $0.45 to close at $105.13.

Other Commodities: Corn ended the day lower by $10.25 at $559.25 and Soybeans ended the day sharply lower by $50.00 to end the session at $1,352.75.

Bonds were higher across the board today: 2 year bond closed higher by 10/32 at 101; 5 year bond moved higher by 22/32 to close at 101 25/32 today; 10 year bond moved higher by 20/32 to close at 100 17/32 and the 30 year bond moved higher by 1 14/32 to close at 100 7/32 on the day.

The e-mini Dow ended the session today at 11,969 with a loss of 182 points on the trading session. The total Dow Exchange Volume for the day came in at 336,469 which are comprised of Electronic, Open Auction and Cash Exchange. Traders should review workshops available at the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) Educational in-person seminars schedules available on CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) website.

The end of day results for the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) which is comprised of the total Exchange Volume for Futures and Options (EVFO) including Electronic, Open Auction and Cash Exchange ended the day at 5,228,991; Open Interest for Futures moved higher by 94,294 points to close at 9,848,394; the Open Interest for Options moved higher by 248,030 points to close at 8,463,252 and the Cleared Only moved lower by 451 points to close at 27,672 for a total Open Interest on the day of 18,339,318 for a total Change on the day with a gain of 341,873 points.

At the close of the week, performance results for our Moderators:

Stocks Trading Room:
Jeannie - $12,002
Barry - $17,304
Marty - $6,100
Sam - $4,539

Futures Trading Room:
JT - $11,147.50

Forex Trading Room:
JT - $15,200

Daily Swing Trades:
Barry - $33,390

Weekly Swing Trades:
Jeannie - $5,210

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