Daily Investment Interpretations

January 28, 2010

2010-1-28:  The market indices fell steeply today, closing at a new low for this dip (correction?). The NASDAQ Composite fell 17.88 points, (-1.91%) to close at 2,179.00, the Dow dropped 115.7 points (-1.13%) to close at 10,120.46, and the S&P 500 subtracted 12.97 points (-1.18%) to 1,084.53. Oil closed at $73.76 a barrel. Gold ended at $1,086. The VIX rose 0.57 to 23.73.
     According to Morningstar, the reasons for today's tumble are:
(1)  the fact that U. S. jobless claims fell by 8,000 last week to 470,000 vs. the consensus projection of 450,000,
(2)  durable goods orders rose just 0.3% vs. the consensus forecast of 2%, and
(3)  Apple and Qualcomm reported disappointing earnings.
    Whatever the arguments, the fact is that market indices have fallen below their 50-day moving averages, and even below their 200-day moving averages. I'm planning either another round of selling tomorrow or the purchase of inverse funds or puts to hedge the rest of my portfolio. (The ETF's can be sold outright, while my remaining mutual funds might profit from puts that would offset their potential losses... a "collar").
    Here's a rundown on Apple's new iPad: Apple launches iPad tablet device.
    Stock market futures are up slightly tonight.