Daily Investment Interpretations

December 8, 2009

2009-12-8: The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 fell again today--harder this time-- and this time, the Dow fell with them. The NASDAQ Composite fell`16.62 points, (-0.76%) to end at 2,172.99, the Dow gained 104.14 points (-1.00%) to close at 10,285.97, and the S&P 500 backed off 11.31 points (-1.03%) to 1,091.94. Oil closed at $73.03 a barrel, while gold fell another $21 to close at $1,143. The VIX climbed 1.59 to 23.69.  
    Why did the markets subside? It's attributed to a strong rise in the dollar because of global financial insecurity and a "flight to quality":Stocks trip as dollar surges. A key factor here is probably the downgrading of Greece' credit rating, and warnings by Moody's about the UK and the US: Energy leads U.S. sharply lower,.
    Meanwhile, Michael Ashbaugh observes, Michael Ashbaugh sees a range-bound U.S. market), that the bulls still have possession of the ball. Also, the Dow transports are up for the year: A bullish signal.
    Two interesting articles, on by Marketwatch' Dr. Irwin Kellner, and the other from the Fidelity Group website, discuss the policy changes behind the bubbles that have characterized the past 15 years (dot.com followed by real estate and banking), and observe that we're presently seeing bubbles in the stock market and in gold because of the excess liquidity that the central baks have provided to curb the "Great Recession: Policy was behind roller-coaster decade and Low rates, the stock market and what's next.