Today is Options Expiry
April 23rd, 2009 by Neil Gynther
Closing Data
| current | change | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow Jones | 7886.57 | -82.99 | -1.0% |
| NASDAQ | 1646.12 | 2.27 | 0.1% |
| S P 500 | 843.55 | -6.53 | -0.8% |
| FTSE 100 | 4030.66 | 43.2 | 1.1% |
| Nikkei 225 | 8727.3 | 15.97 | 0.2% |
| SPI Futures | 3716 | 37 | 1.0% |
| All Ords | 3,627.00 | -5.9 | -0.2% |
| Oil | 47.41 | 0.76 | 1.6% |
| Gold | 892.5 | 9.8 | 1.1% |
| Silver | 12.305 | 0.245 | 2.0% |
| Aluminium | 1410 | 11.5 | 0.8% |
| Copper | 4447 | 44.5 | 1.0% |
| Lead | 1443 | 5 | 0.3% |
| Nickel | 11385 | -85 | -0.7% |
| Tin | 12500 | 580 | 4.9% |
| Zinc | 1420.5 | 24.5 | 1.8% |
The Dow finished in negative territory, closing down 83 points at 7886.57. A late rally collapsed on Wednesday, as financials, some consumer names and energy stocks did an about-face in the final minutes of trading. Stocks got off to a rocky start as investors digested the latest batch of earnings. This came after a rally on Tuesday as investors cheered comments from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner that most banks are well capitalised. Rising stocks outpaced those that fell by about 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange.
In corporate news, Morgan Stanley (-9.0%) reported weaker quarterly sales and earnings that missed expectations and also slashed its dividend 81%. Morgan Stanley was the first of the big banks to miss forecasts, after Citigroup (+0.3%), JPMorgan Chase (-1.9%) and Goldman Sachs (+0.1%) all reported better-than-expected profits.
Nevertheless, a number of other profit reports or forecasts were less negative. Wells Fargo (-3.4%) reported higher-thanexpected quarterly sales and earnings, thanks to strength in its mortgage business. The company had indicated a week ago that it expected to report a better-than-expected profit.
In addition, on Wednesday, Dow component AT&T (+1.8%) reported a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly profit that topped forecasts. Fellow Dow stock McDonald's (2.5%) also reported lower quarterly profit that topped estimates. Boeing (+1.8%) reported lower quarterly profit that missed estimates. Yet, shares gained after the company forecast lower full-year earnings that were still better than what analysts were expecting.
European Markets were mostly positive with the FTSE up 43 and Germany and France up 93 and 51 respectively.
Gold gained $9.80 to close at $892.50 and oil was up 76 cents to $47.41 a barrel.
Base metals were mixed.
Our market will struggle for direction today with the Financials likely to be a little softer and Resources a little stronger.
Today is Options Expiry. Please review your positions and contact your broker to discuss.
If you have not already read it, we recommend Peter’s market commentary which was posted on our web site yesterday.
Contact your Freeman Fox Stockbroker on 07 3031 9960 or 1800 003 369 Ext 7.
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