Monday Market Action

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It was an ugly day on Wall Street as the bears resumed mauling financial stocks. The impetus for today’s 180 point decline was attributed to a negative article appearing in Barron’s magazine over the weekend predicting the Demise of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Jonathan R. Laing’s analysis and obituary of the two Government Sponsored Enterprises’ (GSE) freaked-out anew all the markets as treasuries of all durations became the safe haven for cash.


The DJIA closed down 180.51 or 1.55 per cent at 11,479.39. The S & P 500 also fell 19.60 or 1.51 per cent to 1,278.60. NASDAQ dropped 35.54 or 1.45 per cent to 2,416.98.


Total volume today on the NYSE fell from Friday to 973,427,007; advancing shares were 158,484,820 and declining shares were 807,031,187 with 7,911,000 unchanged. NASDAQ volume was a bit lower also to 1,638,638,956; 277,948,441 shares were up, 1,344,339,319 were down, and 16,291,196 were unchanged.


Bond yields fell and prices rose. U.S. Treasury obligations are considered the safest paper investment in the world. It is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. The Two-Year Note closing yield was lower at 2.33 percent; the Ten Year Note also was lower to 3.81 per cent; and the Thirty Year Bond declined to 4.44 percent.


A housing market index remained at a record low while more analysts are aloud that the slumping economy could become worse for a lot longer than previous thought.


Crude oil finished the day at $112.87 a barrel and Gold closed under $800 to $796 an ounce.