Market Breakdown, Monster AIG Loss, Surging Volatility

The DJIA broke down below the 7000 support level today for the first time in 11 years. A midday attempt to pare the carnage failed as the market closed at the daily low. Monster derivative losses from insurance giant AIG furthered fueled investors pessimism pushing the volatility VIX index up over 13%. Fear reigns supreme with the DJIA down nearly 300 points, dropping -299.64 to 6763.29, the Nasdaq fell -54.99 to 1322.85 and the broad based S&P 500 gave back -34.27 to 700.82.

FTI Consulting
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– The company turnaround counselor was a bright spot during this dark day climbing 13.05% or $4.77 to $41.37 after beating analysts earning estimates.

Leucadia National
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– Dropped 18.80% or $2.75 to $11.88/share after the holder of insurance, wine and real estates concerns reported a massive loss of $11.53/share in the 4th quarter.

American International Group
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– Surged the most in the S&P 500, intraday, despite booking monster losses due to a $30 billion dollar cash injection promise from the Feds. The firm closed the day even at 0.42 cents/share.

ICT Group
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– Takeovers and buyouts are still alive in well despite the negativity with this call center operator exploding up 64.17% or $2.31 to $5.91/share after Aegis Inc offered a buyout offer of $8.00/share.

Oil dropped $4.61 to $40.05, Gold plummeted $2.50 to $940.00 and the fear index VIX soared 13.59% to 52.65.

Market Snapshot

Dow

-299.64 6763.29

NASDAQ

-54.99 13228.85

S&P 500

-34.27 700.82

Economic
News

Personal Income (Jan): Consensus: -0.2%, Prior: -0.2%

Personal Spending (Jan): Consensus: 0.4%, Prior: -1.0%

Core PCE (Jan): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.0%

Construction Spending (Jan): Consensus: -1.5%, Prior: -1.4%

ISM Index (Feb): Consensus: 33.8, Prior: 35.6

Pending Home Sales (Jan): Consensus: -3.0%, Prior: -6.3%

Auto Sales (Feb): Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

Truck Sales (Feb): Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

ADP Employment Change (Feb): Consensus: -613K, Prior: -522K

ISM Services (Feb): Consensus: 41.3, Prior: 42.9

Crude Inventories (Feb 27): Consensus: NA, Prior: 717K

Fed Beige Book: Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

Productivity-Rev. (Q4): Consensus: 1.6%, Prior: 3.2%

Unit Labor Costs (Q4): Consensus: 3.4%, Prior: 1.8%

Initial Claims (Feb 28): Consensus: NA, Prior: 667K

Factory Orders (Jan): Consensus: -2.1%, Prior: -3.9%

Average Workweek (Feb): Consensus: 33.3, Prior: 33.3

Hourly Earnings (Feb): Consensus: 0.3%, Prior: 0.3%

Nonfarm Payrolls (Feb): Consensus: -615K, Prior: -598K

Unemployment Rate (Feb): Consensus: 7.9%, Prior: 7.6%

Consumer Credit (Jan): Consensus: -$4.0B, Prior: -$6.6B