Citigroup Down Big, Stocks Struggle, Economy Shrinks

Stocks struggled today closing lower on the session. Word that the government may takeover a large share in Citigroup pushed the company much lower due to reigniting bank nationalization fears. The economy shrunk to levels not seen since 1982 as the GDP suffered a 6.2% contraction on an annual basis. The DJIA gave back another -119.15 to 7062.93, the tech heavy Nasdaq dropped -13.63 to 1377.84 and the broad based S&P 500 slipped -17.74 to 735.09.

Citigroup
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– Plummeted 41.87% or $1.03 to $1.42/share on reignited bank nationalization fears despite the CEO words to the contrary.

MetLife
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– The giant life insurer fell 23.05% or $5.53 to $18.46 after Standard & Poors downgraded the insurer’s credit ratings.

Calgon Carbon
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– Climbed 15.81% or $2.00 to $14.55/share after beating analysts EPS estimates by 44%.

Public Storage
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– Added 5.82% or $3.05 to $55.48/share upon beating analysts estimates.

Oil dropped 0.46 cents to $44.21, Gold dipped 0.10 cents to $942.50 and the fear index VIX added 3.78% to 46.35.

Market Snapshot

Dow

-119.15 7062.93

NASDAQ

-13.63 1377.84

S&P 500

-17.74 735.09

Economic
News

S&P/CaseShiller Home Price Index. (Dec): Consensus: -18.25%, Prior: -18.18%

Consumer Confidence (Feb): Consensus: 36.0, Prior: 37.7

Bernanke Monetary Semi Policy Report: Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

Existing Home Sales (Jan): Consensus: 4.81M, Prior: 4.74M

Crude Inventories (Feb 20): Consensus: NA, Prior: -138K

Durable Goods Orders (Jan): Consensus: -2.3%, Prior: -2.6%

Durables, Ex-Tran (Jan): Consensus: -2.0%, Prior: -3.6%

Initial Claims (Feb 21): Consensus: NA, Prior: 627K

New Home Sales (Jan): Consensus: 329K, Prior: 331K

GDP-Prel. (Q4): Consensus: -5.4%, Prior: -3.8%

Chain Deflator-Prel (Q4): Consensus: -0.1%, Prior: -0.1%

Chicago PMI (Feb): Consensus: 34.0, Prior: 33.3

Mich Sentiment-Rev (Feb): Consensus: 56.5, Prior: 56.2