Twelve Year Low, Recession Fears, Technology Down

Stocks hit a 12 year low today, retreating to levels not seen since October 1997, amid recession fears and a technology sell off. Obama and Geithner’s liquidity injection plan has not settled investor’s fears of continued economic turmoil. Gloom and doom were the keywords today across the board. The DJIA fell -250.89 to 7114.78, the Nasdaq gave back another -53.51 to 1387.72 and the S&P 500 dropped -26.72 to 743.33.

Citigroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
– Climbed today on word that the government may increase its ownership stake. The injured stock climbed 10.26% or 0.20 cents to $2.16/share.

Ford
(
F |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
– Another winner on this dark day, climbing 10.13% or 0.16 cents to $1.74/share after management reached an agreement with the union.

UAL Corp
(
UAUA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
– Soared 19.56% or $1.06 to $6.48/share upon being upgraded by Bank of America.

Arcelor Mittal
(
MT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
– Dropped 14.09% or $3.16 to $19.26/share after UBS cut it to neutral.

Oil fell $1.59 to $38.08, Gold slipped $7.20 to $995.00 and the fear index VIX jumped 6.73% to 52.62.

Market Snapshot

Dow

-250.89 7114.78

NASDAQ

-53.51 1387.72

S&P 500

-26.72 743.33

Economic
News

S&P/CaseShiller Home Price Index. (Dec): Consensus: -18.25%, Prior: -18.18%

Consumer Confidence (Feb): Consensus: 36.0, Prior: 37.7

Bernanke Monetary Semi Policy Report: Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

Existing Home Sales (Jan): Consensus: 4.81M, Prior: 4.74M

Crude Inventories (Feb 20): Consensus: NA, Prior: -138K

Durable Goods Orders (Jan): Consensus: -2.3%, Prior: -2.6%

Durables, Ex-Tran (Jan): Consensus: -2.0%, Prior: -3.6%

Initial Claims (Feb 21): Consensus: NA, Prior: 627K

New Home Sales (Jan): Consensus: 329K, Prior: 331K

GDP-Prel. (Q4): Consensus: -5.4%, Prior: -3.8%

Chain Deflator-Prel (Q4): Consensus: -0.1%, Prior: -0.1%

Chicago PMI (Feb): Consensus: 34.0, Prior: 33.3

Mich Sentiment-Rev (Feb): Consensus: 56.5, Prior: 56.2