Market Wrap-Up

January 11, 2008

DOW 12,606.30 -246.79 (-1.92%) 1,401.02 -19.31 (-1.36%) NASQD 2,439.94
-48.58 (-1.95%) 10 yr Bond 3.81% -0.077

Today the markets traded lower on continued credit and recession concerns.

There was a lot of news today in the financial sector. American Express (AXP) $44.00 -4.92 (-10.06%) got killed today after announcing that it was raising its reserves to cover bad debt as customer defaults increase.

After yesterdays announcement that Bank of America (BAC) $38.50 -0.80 (-2.04%) and Countrywide Financial (CFC) $6.33 -1.42 (-18.32%) both traded lower. As some Wall Street analyst questioned the reasoning and details of the deal. Thinking BofA was trying to catch a falling knife. Others were disappointed in the $4 billion dollar price thinking Countrywide could have gone for more.

Shares of MBIA (MBI) $16.59 +2.48 (+17.58%) traded higher today after it was disclosed that Third Avenue Management took a 10.98% stake in the company.

Merrill Lynch (MER) $54.69 +2.66 (+5.11%) shares traded higher today even though it was reported that the company will announce a $15 billion dollar loss. Driving the shares higher was news that the company is in negotiations to raise another $4 billion to shore up its finances.

CNBC reported today that Citigroup (C) $28.56 +0.45 (+1.60%) is seeking an infusion of cash from various sources of approximately $15 billion.

Additionally it was reported that Washington Mutual (WM) $14.69 +0.53 (+3.74%) was in preliminary talks to merge with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) $40.86 -0.47 (-1.14%).

Shares of Tiffany & Co (TIF) $35.80 -4.52 (-11.21%) declined after the company reduced its 2007 forecast.

Gold hit a record high today trading for the first time at $900 a once before fall back to $897.60 +4.10 (+0.46%).

Fears on Wall Street continued today that a slowdown in consumer spending will push the US economy into a recession. Philadelphia Fed President Paulson echoed this by saying that the Fed's biggest worry is weakness in consumer spending and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said "time is of the essence" in developing a stimulus package.

Next week we will see a flood of earnings releases in the financial sector some of the companies due to report are: M&T Bank (MTB), Citigroup (C), State Street Bank (STT), US Bancorp (USB), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Northern Trust (NTRS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of New York (BK), BB&T Corp (BBT), Comerica (CMA), Huntington Bank (HBAN), Merrill Lynch (MER), PNC Bank (PNC), TD Ameritrade (AMTD), and Washington Mutual (WM).

Other companies reporting are Genentech (DMA), Intel (INTC), IBM (IBM) and Schlumberger (SLB).

With all the financials reporting and concerns about more write offs I would expect the market to continue with its recent volatility.