GM Saved, Stocks Rally, Apple’s Jobs Rumor

Stocks rallied today on news of an additional $6 billion dollar cash infusion into GMAC, the financing arm of General Motors. This capital is expected to unfreeze auto financing making it easier for consumers to purchase cars. This good word counteracted terrible data from the retail and real estate sectors with the DJIA climbing +184.46 to 8,668.39, the Nasdaq adding +40.38 to 1,550.70, and the broad based S&P 500 advancing +21.22 to 890.64.

Apple
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– Rumors of Steve Jobs being in extremely poor health pushed the company down over 1% intraday with it ending the session down 0.37% or 0.32 cents to $82.29/share.

General Motors
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– The government promised bailout of the GMAC division lifted the stock 5.28% or 0.19 cents to $3.78/share.

Rick’s Cabaret
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– The strip club operator dipped 15.52% or 0.72 cents to $3.92/share after withdrawing its 2009 forecast and missing analysts 4th quarter estimates.

Savient Pharmaceuticals
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– Climbed 19.31% or 0.95 cents to $5.87/share on news that the FDA is accelerating its review of its new gout treatment.

Gold dropped $5.30 to $870.00, oil fell 0.99 cents to $39.15 and the VIX index gave back 5.17% to 41.63 on contracting volatility and lifting market nervousness.

Market Snapshot

Dow

+184.46 8,668.39

NASDAQ

+40.38 1,550.70

S&P 500

+21.22 890.64

Economic
News

Chicago PMI (Dec): Consensus 33.0, Prior 33.8

Consumer Confidence (Dec): Consensus 45.2, Prior 44.9

Initial Claims (Dec 27): Consensus NA, Prior NA

ISM Index (Dec): Consensus 35.4, Prior 36.2