Hedge Honcho Sells, Stocks Drop, Banks Struggle

  • January 14, 2009
  • David Goodboy

Hedge fund honcho, Steve Cohen of SAC, dramatically cut his holdings in the retail and pharmaceutical sectors near the end of 2008, per regulatory filings. This dismal news added additional weight to an already sagging stock market triggered by fears of 2009 being catastrophic for banks and gloomy retail sales. The DJIA gave back -248.42 to 8200.14, the tech heavy Nasdaq fell -56.82 to 1489.64 and the broad based market barometer S&P 500 fell -29.17 to 842.62.

Principal Financial
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PowerRating) – Fell 11.15% or $2.13 to $16.97/share after fears rocked the insurance sector that losses on fixed income investment would exhaust capital.

American Express
(
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PowerRating) – The soon to be bank dropped 6.16% or $1.17 to $17.82/share upon having its fourth quarter profit estimates cut by Barclays.

Nortel Networks
(
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PowerRating) – The once thriving Canadian telecommunication equipment maker declared bankruptcy today sending shares tumbling 77.34% or 0.24 cents to 0.07/share.

LaBranche
(
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PowerRating) – The largest stock specialist firm on the NYSE was a bright spot on this dark day, climbing 16.45% or 0.75 cents to $5.31/share upon being raised to a buy by Goldman.

Oil fell another 0.50 cents to $37.47, gold dipped $11.90 to $808.80 and the VIX surged 13.57% to 49.14.

Market Snapshot

Dow

 -248.42 8200.14

NASDAQ

 -56.82 1489.64

S&P 500

 -29.17 842.62

Economic
News

Treasury Budget (Dec): Consensus: -$33.0B, Prior: -$48.3B

Export Prices ex-ag. (Dec): Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

Import Prices ex-oil (Dec): Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

Retail Sales (Dec): Consensus: -1.1%, Prior: -1.8%

Retail Sales ex-auto (Dec): Consensus: -1.2%, Prior: -1.6%

Business Inventories (Nov): Consensus: -0.5%, Prior: -0.6%

Crude Inventories (Jan 09): Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

Core PPI (Dec): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.1%

Initial Claims (Jan 10): Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

PPI (Dec): Consensus: -1.9%, Prior: -2.2%

Philadelphia Fed (Jan): Consensus: -35.0, Prior: -32.9

Core CPI (Dec): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.0%

CPI (Dec): Consensus: -1.0%, Prior: -1.7%

Capacity Utilization (Dec): Consensus: 74.7%, Prior: 75.4%

Industrial Production (Dec): Consensus: -0.8%, Prior: -0.6%

Mich Sentiment-Prel (Jan): Consensus: 60.0, Prior: 60.1

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