World Market Storm, Rebellious Stocks, Paulson Scrambles

A dark and stormy day for the world markets. US stocks rebelled against the Federal rescue plan with the DJIA falling below the benchmark 10,000 level, dropping over 800 points prior to staging an impressive rally off the lows. The United States is not alone in the turmoil with global markets being hit with extreme anxiety and fear. Treasury Secretary Paulson called a meeting with Fed Chief Bernanke and contacted Wall Street executives in a scrambling attempt to control the chaos apparently triggered by his rescue plan.

The DJIA launched a late day rally, almost closing above the technically critical 10,000 level, to end the day down -369.88 to 9955.50, the Nasdaq collapsed -84.43 to 1862.96 and the broad based S&P 500 fell -42.34 to 1056.89.

American Express
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gave back 2.59% or 80 cents to $30.07 on fears triggered by German government bailout of Hypo Real Estate. However, shares have rallied back to almost break even in after hours trading.

Citigroup
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fell 5.12% or 94 cents to $17.41/share after suing Wells Fargo for interfering in its offer to purchase Wachovia.

First Solar Corp
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dropped 8.66% or $13.83 to $145.88/share on concerns that the credit seizure will block its clients from getting loans to purchase its solar panel products.

Garmin
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– The maker of GPS units gave back 2.44% or 70 cents to $28.02/share after being cut to underperform by RBC capital.

Gold climbed $27.10 to $860.30, oil fell $4.96 to $88.92 and the fear gauge VIX spiked 15.04% to 51.93 after being as high as 58.24 during the day.

Market Snapshot

Dow

-369.88 9955.50

NASDAQ

-84.43 1862.96

S&P 500

-42.34 1056.89

Economic
News

Existing Home Sales (Aug): Consensus 4.93M, Prior 5.00M

Crude Inventories (09/20): Consensus NA, Prior NA

Durable Orders (Aug): Consensus -1.3%, Prior 1.3%

Initial Claims (09/20): Consensus NA, Prior NA

New Home Sales (Aug): Consensus 518K, Prior 515K

Chain Deflator-Final (Q2): Consensus NA, Prior 1.2%

GDP-Final (Q2): Consensus 3.4%, Prior 3.3%

Mich Sentiment-Rev. (Sep): Consensus 70.9, Prior 73.1

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