Stocks Roar Alive, Hedge Funds Cut Out, Commodity Demand Dips

  • October 16, 2008
  • David Goodboy

Stocks roared to life today after a volatile session. Better than expected Consumer Prices, falling unemployment, and positive inflation figures worked together to lift the market. However, the fear gauge VIX index hit all times high today of 81. As expected, Paulson made clear that hedge funds are not part of the bail out plan and only regulated financial companies are included. The DJIA surged +401.59 to 8979.50, the Nasdaq jumped +89.38 to 1717.71, and the broad based S&P 500 added +38.54 to 946.38.

Yahoo
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PowerRating) – Rocketed 10.21% or $1.20 to $12.95/share after Microsoft announced they are still interested in a partnership.

Jackson Hewitt
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PowerRating) – Climbed 18.28% or $2.00 to $12.94/share on a Morgan Stanley upgrade.

Citigroup
(
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PowerRating) – Was the second biggest loser in the DJIA today falling 14.34% or $2.67 to $15.91/share after reporting its fourth straight quarterly loss.

Apollo Group
(
APOL |
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PowerRating) – The for profit university owner climbed 13.08% or $6.73 to $58.27/share after being named top pick by UBS AG.

The entire commodity complex fell today with oil dipping $3.51 to $71.03, gold dropping 32.80 to $806.20 and the VIX hitting all time highs of 81 intraday.

Market Snapshot

Dow

 +401.59 8979.50

NASDAQ

 +89.38 1717.71

S&P 500

 +38.54 946.38

Economic
News

Treasury Budget (Sep): Consensus NA, Prior NA

Core PPI (Sep): Consensus 0.2%, Prior 0.2%

NY Empire State Index (Oct): Consensus -10.0%, Prior -7.4%

PPI (Sep): Consensus -0.3%, Prior -0.9%

Retail Sales (Sep): Consensus -0.4%, Prior -0.3%

Retail Sales ex-auto (Sep): Consensus 0.1%, Prior -0.7%

Business Inventories (Aug): Consensus 0.4%, Prior 1.1%

Crude Inventories (Oct 11): Consensus NA, Prior NA

Core CPI (Sep): Consensus 0.2%, Prior 0.2%

CPI (Sep): Consensus 0.1%, Prior -0.1%

Initial Claims (Oct 11): Consensus NA, Prior 478K

Net Foreign Purchases (Aug): Consensus NA, Prior NA

Capacity Utilization(Sep): Consensus 78.0%, Prior 78.7%

Industrial Production (Sep): Consensus -0.8%, Prior -1.1%

Philadelphia Fed (Oct): Consensus -5.0, Prior 3.8

Building Permits (Oct): Consensus 845K, Prior 854K

Housing Starts (Sep): Consensus 880K, Prior 895K

Mich Sentiment-Prel (Oct): Consensus 69.0, Prior 70.3

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