Bulls Stampede, Health Care Troubles, Citigroup’s Loss
The stock market bulls stampeded today lifting the major indexes sharply higher by the close. The earnings season is in full swing with Citigroup reporting a monstrous $7.8 billion dollar loss in its fourth quarter. Fortunately, this hit was in line with expectations therefore shares are actually slightly up on the day. The real power behind the bullish surge is the bona fide potential that Obama’s health care reform will be blocked by opponents. Health care companies rallied on the news leading the market higher. The DJIA climbed +115.78 to 10725.43, the Nasdaq jumped +32.41 to 2320.40, and the S&P 500 advanced +14.20 to 1150.23.
^BIDU^: China’s largest internet search engine fell 5.74%r $26.84 to $440.84/share after a second top executive quit, triggering worries that it will not be able to exploit the possibility of Google leaving China.
^MCD^: Gained 1.93% or $1.20 to $63.48/share after being upgraded to “outperform” at Credit Suisse.
^KFT^: Fell 0.57% or 17 cents to $29.41/share on Cadbury finally accepting their takeover offer.
^CFL^: Exploded higher by 33.21% or $10.12 to $41.54/share after Tyco moved to buy the firm.
Oil added 92 cents to $78.92, gold advanced $10.00 to $1141.00, and the VIX fear index declined 1.84% to 17.58.
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