Implode-O-Meter
Stocks started out falling, then made steam on the positive side, and spent the rest of the day in a massive meltdown, down 237 points – wiping out yesterday’s large gains. Why would stocks act to strangely? Well, today stocks are anticipating the profit declarations coming out starting tomorrow, and are anticipating that companies just aren’t doing as well as before. Stock prices are anticipating the future – a nice thing to remember.Bonds, much to my continuing surprise – continue to fall in interest rates. This is just amazing, but there is an indication that the bond market is not “forgetting” about, or just blowing off, the fear of inflation – for the time being.
Oil and gasoline were very stable today – effectively no change.
Gold gained $5, and is still looking strong.
In the news today……
There was no financial news of note.The Iranians shot off some missiles, and scared most of the markets. The Iranian military exercise is the way to train Iranian troops. It can also be used for political purposes – to simply state that Iran can shoot a missile into downtown Tel Aviv, or Jerusalem – and it can contact a nasty warhead. This saber rattling is to be expected, and anticipated, as the war of words regarding Iran’s nuclear warhead program continues to heat up. If you ever hear that Israel has attacked Iran, buy oil futures long and retire rich. The Iranians said they would close the Straits of Hormuz where a big chunk of the world’s oil is transported by tankers.
Interested in the mortgage industry??
For those of you who are interested in the meltdown of the mortgage industry, just click on the following link. It is the Implode-O-Meter showing all 266 companies that have hit the skids in lending since 2006.
Click here: http://ml-implode.com
Here are today’s numbers:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial - 11147 (down 237 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond - 3.83% (down 0.05%)
Euro - $1.5745
Gold - $929 (up $5)
Oil - $136.05 (up $0.01)
Gasoline - $3.37 (up $0.01)
