Early Rally Fades, New Home Sales Disappoint

Friday’s lackluster session saw an early rally fizzle out after another weak report on the housing market was released.

The effects of the credit crunch were visible once again today as The Wall Street Journal reported a number of banks were considering selling “everything from branches to entire units.”

The report mentioned Citigroup
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and HSBC
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, as well as covering recent asset sales by Merrill Lynch
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, Morgan Stanley
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and UBS
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.

Berkshire Hathaway
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announced plans to start a bond insurer, which sent the shares of MBIA
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and Ambac Financial
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sharply lower.

Crude oil declined today to end the week at $96 per barrel.

Market Snapshot

Dow

6.26 13365.87

NASDAQ

-2.33 2674.46

S&P 500

2.12 1478.49

Strongest/Weakest Industry Groups

Strongest Industries

% Change

Weakest Industries

% Change
Gold
+3.40%
Surety & Title Insurance
-4.89%
Publishing – Periodicals
+2.01%
Mortgage Investment
-2.97%
Farm Products
+1.99%
Residential Construction
-2.02%

Economic
News

New Home Sales (Nov): Actual 647K, Consensus 715K