Stocks Volatile, Citi Slashes, Mark Cuban Busted

  • November 17, 2008
  • David Goodboy

The stock market extended two weeks of losses after a volatile session. The major indexes struggled into positive territory and almost broke even several times prior to being pushed negative by an afternoon selling frenzy. News that Citigroup is laying off another 53,000 employees, in a cost slashing measure, increased the overall bearish sentiment. The SEC filed an action against famed internet billionaire, Mark Cuban, for insider trading in Mamma.com shares back in 2004, reviving memories of the internet boom and bust in many investors’ minds. The DJIA gave back -223.73 to 8273.58, the Nasdaq fell -34.80 to 1482.05 and the S&P 500 dropped -22.54 to 850.75.

Lowe’s
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Targanta Corp
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PowerRating) – Jumped 32.61% or $2.09 to $8.50/share when its product showed additional benefits against skin infections.

Walt Disney
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Yum! Brands
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PowerRating) – Added 2.08% or 0.52 cents to $25.50/share when the fast food chain owner was raised to a buy at UBS.

Oil fell $2.09 to $55.04, gold slipped $0.50 to $742.00 and the VIX fear index added 4.28% to 69.15.

Market Snapshot

Dow

 -223.73 8,273.58

NASDAQ

 -34.80 1,482.05

S&P 500

 -22.54 850.75

Economic
News

NY Empire State Index (Nov): Consensus -26.0, Prior -24.6

Capacity Utilization (Oct): Consensus 76.5%, Prior 76.4%

Industrial Production (Oct): Consensus 0.2%, Prior -2.8%

Core PPI (Oct): Consensus 0.1%, Prior 0.4%

PPI (Oct): Consensus -1.8%, Prior -0.4%

Net Foreign Purchases (Sep): Consensus $17.5B, Prior $14.0B

Building Permits (Oct): Consensus 772K, Prior 786K

Core CPI (Oct): Consensus 0.1%, Prior 0.1%

CPI (Oct): Consensus -0.8%, Prior 0.0%

Housing Starts (Oct): Consensus 780K, Prior 817K

FOMC Minutes (Oct 29): Consensus N/A, Prior N/A

Initial Claims (Nov 15): Consensus 503K, Prior 516K

Leading Indicators (Oct): Consensus -0.6%, Prior 0.3%

Philadelphia Fed (Nov): Consensus -35.0, Prior -37.5

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