Obama Speech
Stocks went way down today, recovered to positive territory, and ended down 80 points. Bank worries continued to be a key worry.
Bonds lost ground (increase interest rates), as future inflation and supply of bonds weighed on the market
The Dollar gain as did Oil and gasoline (on increased demand recently in gasoline.) Gold went sideways today.
In the news today…..
The key event was President Obama’s speech last night. Should be interesting to see if his actions meet his rhetoric. If his rhetoric is correct, he will be trying to rein in his own party over spending in the future. Also, his promise to halve the budget deficit by the end of his term, can only be reached by reduced spending and increased taxes. I have no doubt that increased taxes are coming – my only question is how he can keep his promise to not increase taxes “by one dime” for people earning $250,000/year. Should be interesting. Remember he can increase all kinds of peripheral taxes and not touch income tax – except for the “rich.”
There continues to be no real solution to the bank solvency problem. FED Chief Bernanke in talking to Congress today said that he is look forward to the “stress test” being performed on the banks right now. The key question is what do you do to unstress those banks.
Here are the last numbers:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 7271 (down 80 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 2.95% (up 0.15%)
Euro – $1.2698
Gold – $966 (down $3)
Oil – $42.50 (up $2.54)
Gasoline – $1.17 (up $0.08)
