Bernanke Stands Ready, Stocks Drop, Retail Sinks
Stocks closed down today, after a late day rally breaking into positive territory fizzled on a massive 2.8% drop in retail spending, the largest since the terrorism fear of 2001. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke stated, at the Frankfurt conference, that he stands ready to lower rates and do whatever it takes to solve the crisis. The DJIA ended the day down -337.94 to 8497.31, the Nasdaq fell -79.85 to 1516.85 and the broad based S&P 500 gave back -38.00 to 873.29 ending two straight weeks of losses.
JPMorgan
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PowerRating) – Fell 7.31% or $2.72 to $34.72 as the investment banking behemoth writes down assets and lowers profit estimates.
Intel
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PowerRating) – Consumers cutting back on spending led the chip maker to a 7.69% or $1.11 decline to $13.32/share.
Sears
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Assured Guaranty
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PowerRating) – Climbed 4.32% or 0.35 cents to $8.45/share after the bond insurer agreed to purchase Dexia financial for $722 million.
Oil fell $1.20 to $56.36, gold gained $37.50 to $742.50 and the VIX spiked 10.83% to $66.31.
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