Thursday, October 22, 2009

Surprising Sell Off, Beige Book Positive, Unemployment Grows

Stocks traded in positive territory for the majority of the session then late day downgrades triggered a surprisingly sharp sell off. Positive words from the Fed's Beige Book report indicating that the economy has indeed grown modestly were offset by a climb in unemployment across 23 states. Wal-Mart's dire predictions for a difficult holiday season and a Wells Fargo downgrade sent shares tumbling in the final hour. The DJIA dropped -92.12 to 9949.36, the Nasdaq fell -12.74 to 2150.73 and the broad based S&P 500 gave back -9.66 to 1081.40.

Wells Fargo (WFC | Chart | News | PowerRating): Shares tumbled 5.12% or $1.56 to $28.90 after an analyst at Rochdale Securities discovered that the positive results were due to fees rather than better business.

Boeing (BA | Chart | News | PowerRating): The aircraft maker reported wider than expected losses sending shares lower by 2.43% or $1.26 to $50.63.

Wal-Mart (WMT | Chart | News | PowerRating): Warned it will cut prices to weather the coming stressful holiday season, sending the stock down by 2.07% or $1.07 to $50.63.

Knight Capital (NITE | Chart | News | PowerRating): Missed analysts estimates resulting in shares tumbling 16.80% or $3.66 to $18.13.

Gold climbed $5.90 to 1064.50, oil added $2.25 to $80.97 and the VIX index climbed 6.31 to 22.22.

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