Wild Ride On Wall Street

Dow Plummets More Than 340 Points Then Soars Late, Closing Nearly Flat

(CBS/AP)  Wall Street pulled off a dramatic late-session turnaround to close mixed Thursday after bargain hunters lured by weeks of massive declines came back to the stock market. The Dow Jones industrials, down more than 340 points in afternoon trading, ended the day with a loss of just 13.

The market appeared to be on an almost relentless downward spiral after problems at Countrywide Financial Corp. confirmed investors' fears that credit problems are spreading. Moreover, for much of the day, investors shrugged off the Federal Reserve's injection of $17 billion into the banking system.

The revival showed that investors want to turn stocks around. The market clawed back with a bounce in blue chip stocks, with a leadership role going to the downtrodden financial sector.

But in spite of the big comeback, Wall Street is still an uncertain place, having been pounded by weeks of losses including triple-digit slides in the Dow. All three of the market's big indexes reached levels Thursday where they were down 10 percent from their mid-July highs — the definition of a stock market correction.

Some analysts were hopeful.

"The fundamental buyers are coming back into the market, and typically trading in the last half hour of the day is where the smart institutional money is going," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. "There's a feeling that maybe we've pushed it too far, and this gives us a running start for positive markets worldwide on Friday."

Still, while the market has seen big gains over the past few weeks, those gains quickly evaporated the next day. Often, the buying has been done by traders or hedge funds trying to cover losses from what's known as short trading. In short trading, an investor sells borrowed stock on a bet that the market will fall; when the market rises, the investor must buy stock to pay back the debt. While bargain hunting helped lift stocks, it's likely that Thursday's gains were also due to short covering.

The Dow ended the day down 15.69, or 0.12 percent, at 12,845.78.

The S&P rose 4.56, or 0.32 percent, to 1,411.26, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 7.76, or 0.32 percent, to 2,451.07. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 17.29, or 2.30 percent, to 768.83.

Bonds continued their rally as investors fled into safer securities. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped to 4.66 percent from 4.72 percent late Wednesday. Yields had been as low as 4.60 percent earlier in the session, but began to reverse as stocks rebounded.

Investors have also been hoping that policymakers might lower interest rates to help bolster the economy, which is a positive step for Treasurys. The likelihood of a rate cut before, or at, the next Fed meeting seemed less likely as the central bank instead chose to add more liquidity to the market.

The New York Fed — which carries out the central bank's market operation — announced an overnight repurchase agreement worth $12 billion. This was on top of a 14-day "repo" worth $5 billion announced before the market opened.

Central banks around the world have been supplying billions of funds to banks in the past week to make cash available for lending and keep interest rates from rising amid signs that credit was drying up. The Fed uses a repo to buy securities from dealers, who then deposit the money into commercial banks.

St. Louis Fed President William Poole told Bloomberg Television after the closing bell Wednesday it wasn't necessary for the central bank to consider lowering short-term interest rates before the regularly scheduled meeting of its rate-setting committee next month.

The Fed left rates unchanged at its last meeting at 5.25 percent, where it has stood since last summer. However, policymakers said during their commentary that inflation continues to be a worry, and also recognized the debt and credit crunch for the first time.

"I think there is more confidence of a lasting rally in equities if the Fed cuts rates, and that makes it easier on days like this to do bargain hunting," said John Lonski, chief economist for credit-rating agency Moody's Investors Service. "And, the more investors sense that the U.S. economy can shoulder losses arising from subprime mortgages, the closer we are to stabilization in equities."

Countrywide fell $2.34, or 11 percent, to $18.95 after the mortgage lender borrowed $11.5 billion from a group of 40 banks to fund loans, in a move that shows just how deep the lending crisis has become. The company has been slammed as the credit crunch has driven a number of its smaller peers to bankruptcy.

Many lenders now sell off mortgages to investment banks, who in turn spin them off to other big investors — so bad loans can get spread throughout the financial system, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason. It's not clear how deep the losses go or how widespread the damage really is.

[bigroberta]

This whole situation is way over due. Everyone
wants big fancy cars and houses. We need to
get back to what we can handle. You just cant
buy a $500,000 dollar house for a $1000.00
a month.

Rob

[oakishpines]

'' ... i had a million dollars and i wanted to return on investment ten million dollars, so i started to make a movie and then decided i''d make 10 $100,000 movies and then decided 100 $10,000 and then 1000 $1,000 and eventually went to a million kids and said: here kid is a penny, dance me a get well feed world song, a medical you are here map song dance skit kit ... and each kid said ''keep the penny, dancing get well feed world songs, and medical you are here map song dance skit kits, is free'' ... and i made ten million dollars for free ... ''

'' ... some sell war door to door, but most won''t buy and most that do get turned away because the war machines can''t afford any liabilitys ... except for target practice ... ''

'' ... soldiers mug rape kill more small kids per capita, and parents mug rape kill more small kids, and all because ''god and congress made me do it ... ''

'' ... god''s a three year old girl passing her bombs to stupid men and asking them to tax her world and keep her safe ... ''

'' ... in theory: any object or reciprocity or text or image can be decrpted to reveal any other object or reciprocity or text or image, depending on the code key applied ... ''

'' ... is it that the ''market hogs'' are so rich, or that they are so poor, if each 50 or 300 folk report on 50 or 300 other folk: then, is not the media most rich? ... ''

[soldat44]

Greed

Greed

Greed

This is the result...

[jimbo505]

The market is ripe for a crash!

[soldat44]

'''' ... some sell war door to door, but most won''''t buy and most that do get turned away because the war machines can''''t afford any liabilitys ... except for target practice ... ''''

'''' ... soldiers mug rape kill more small kids per capita, and parents mug rape kill more small kids, and all because ''''god and congress made me do it ... ''''

'''' ... god''''s a three year old girl passing her bombs to stupid men and asking them to tax her world and keep her safe ... ''''

'''' ... in theory: any object or reciprocity or text or image can be decrpted to reveal any other object or reciprocity or text or image, depending on the code key applied ... ''''

'''' ... is it that the ''''market hogs'''' are so rich, or that they are so poor, if each 50 or 300 folk report on 50 or 300 other folk: then, is not the media most rich? ... ''''


Posted by oakishpines at 12:14 PM : Aug 16, 2007

Ummm...yea...Listen, we''re going to need to move your desk down to the basement...we need this space for some of the new people coming in...ummmkay? Thaaaanks.

[searingtruth]

Fellow Citizens,

For over six years Bush and his henchmen have told us that only three things were necessary for the success of America.

Inhumanity, lawlessness, and greed.

They were wrong.

About everything.

On September 15, 2007 tens of thousands of Americans from all over our great country are converging in Washington D.C. for an impeachment and anti-war march.

This day will start the beginning of a week of action to restore our Constitution to this land and end Bush''s atrocious war of aggression.

sep15.org and impeachbush.org have all the information you need to attend, and we need every loyal American who can make it to be there.

Do you want an end to this war?

Do you want our Constitution and the rule of law it embraces restored to this land?

Do you want to see those who have subverted our Constitution brought to justice, as a warning to all those who would think it possible again?

Then I will see you there fellow patriots, unless I''m illegally abducted and placed in one of Bush''s secret prisons forever, without charge or representation, during my journey to Washington D.C.

The time for complaining is over, the time for action is here.
ST


"Too often we have been caught between word, and action."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[cathaleen]

The problem is not with the people want nice homes, the problem is the greed of the banks. They preyed on people who had little but wanted alot more. So they approved mortgages for people who a few years ago would have never been approved. For this the banks received higher fees, and these people got a house they liked.

The banks are responsible because they are the ones who make the decisions on who can qualify for a mortgage and who can''t.

But the banks will be, once again, bailed out by the government and the people will lose their homes.

[ov442]

i want my stapler.. red stapler

[ov442]

Hey there are a lot of factors involved here. Recall that from 2001 to fall of 2004 the entire nation was losing jobs by the thousands. Since that time places like Ohio and Michigan have continued to do so. There are a lot of people in this country still looking for jobs and you can imagine when Ford lays off 114,000 employees nationwide, that cant be good for the housing market. Its not that these folks had homes they couldnt afford, a lot of them just lost their income.
The ones that had shady incomes and got loans were all those weird loans like, - Interest only, variants on ARM''s, and Balloon mortgages like that.
But thats what taking risks is about.

Besides that, Dont a lot of FHA homes get secured by the Feds on default?
Doesnt PMI provide mortgage insurance incase of default?
Also, dont they own the homes when people default on them and cannot pay them?
So technically, unless the house is condemned dont they basically lose nothing in reality but huge extra profits over and above the income and asset holdings?

[shanev137]

I shorted the DOW with everything I own at 14,000

[incog-nito]

Time to sell short! (If you know what I''m talking about). Make money on the way down. BTW, this is an opinion, not investment advice.

[antoniof123]

So let me get this straight prosperty through debt is good yea, right that is Reganomics morons.

[oscarez]

Is tomorrow going to be another Black Friday, 1929?

[incog-nito]

oscarez: Tomorrow''s going to be big day! People are going to close out their positions, creating downward pressure on the market. Don''t know if it''s going to be black, but it''s going to be very interesting.

[BlueInWI]

Time for another speech by GW(tf) to calm the markets!!!???

Strike that. Time to impeach GW(tf).

[imprisonbush]

Gosh, I am confused. Why are the markets so scared about the house of financial cards that this country is built on? Didn''t they hear Bush, Cheney, Rove and all of the leading Republicans tell us how strong they have built this econonmy? Geesshhh. One might think that nobody believes these people or something.

[rudy654-2009]

Just over a year ago, houses were soaring higher and higher in prices. Homes would literally double in price within a month''s time, well above most people''s means. The greed factor was in full bloom. Where did they think this greed was going to take them? Regardless, we''re there.

[bishopleland]

St. Paul said two thousand years or so ago, "...the love of money is the root of all evil." Doesn''t appear to have changed any. Today is just another sample. Now, what will all the panic, suicides, other crimes to cover up the irrationality of modern capitalism accomplish?

[infidel_us]

Dommit ROVE! You and Bush need to stop rigging the market to make millions while we, the little people, suffer! :)

[walt1944-2009]

Emperor Bush has just announced that he intends to rescue the stock market (and thus his big business corporate friends) by printing more money since foreign markets are becoming "nervous" about the value of American securities. The Emperor feels that with more printed paper around, this will ease the fears in the stock market. The Emperor is not concerned that printing more money will make the currency more worthless than it already is. Naturally, Emperor Bush will do nothing about bringing more jobs back to the US or creating more jobs to help the average homeowner hold on to what is left of the "American dream" as he feels the economy is "booming", and who cares about the middle class anyway.

Another triumph of "Bushonomics" (formerly Reganonomics)!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!

[stewart2511]

It is about time the upper class (rich) in America (as it is so called) start feeling what the middle/poor class in Amercia (this great country of ours - NOT!)have been feeling for some time. Are they biting their nails down to the nub? No they have plenty, but worry when they start losing the slightess. It is about time they start living like the rest of us, who constantly give money to the government (not by our choice)and the government never recognizes! Once again, although the government never helps the middle/poor class, I will bet my last pennies that the government will run to the aid of the rich and powerful to help bail them out.

IT''S ABOUT TIME! WHEN WILL AMERICA WAKE UP????????????

[gmcnally2]

When markets crash wealth is not destroyed, it is redistributed. The FED is a private entity and it causes these swings to enrich it''s patrons. KILL THE FED NOW! Let the government issue $ and control inflation and stop paying interest to further enrich the worlds richest people.
Watch ''Money Masters'' on Google video. Time to stop the insanity.

[incog-nito]

The charade is over. A nation''s real wealth is in manufacturing, in taking raw material and adding value to it through innovation. The American manufacturing base has been decimated. You can''t create wealth by spending money you don''t have, by having jobs that mostly involve shuffling paper around, or by hoping to get rich through speculation. That''s a recipe for disaster.

[feelfree1]

There was a big dip in the stock market, just prior to the 9/11/01 attacks. The wheels are coming off of the Bushco hate/war/ignorance-based economy.

It looks like we can expect an illegal war of aggression against Iran, and/or another staged terrorism attack in the near future. It is about the only way that the regime can maintain power and control at this point.

Don''t miss the film "Zeitgeist"

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5547481422995115331

[battyellison]

You can bet your last dollar that the government and the Bush Administration will do something to bail the stock market out although for the life of me when did our stock market gains and losses start moving based on communist china? If you recall their Bushit toys, foods , ect.... America didn''t think that would make them mad? Then again a few months ago slush fund managers were getting 30-50 million dollar bonus buying 350k car''s with all the trimmings

[gheemaster38]

This whole situation is way over due. Everyone
wants big fancy cars and houses. We need to
get back to what we can handle. You just cant
buy a $500,000 dollar house for a $1000.00
a month.

Posted by BIGROBERTA at 12:13 PM : Aug 16, 2007


Amen..

And I have been advising people against this practice now for almost 2 years.. One guy bought a house for 250 grand.. ARM no down payment.. He only makes around 2 thousand per month.. The notes were 1/2 months wages.. To much house for such little income. By the way his interest adjusted by 2 points making his payment unaffordable.. Next stop either bankruptcy or foreclosure..

[infidel_us]

It is about time the upper class (rich) in America (as it is so called) start feeling what the middle/poor class in Amercia (Posted by stewart2511 at 01:28 PM : Aug 16, 2007

Yeah....stick it to "the man!" Yeah! Bout time....Yeah. I''m just a selfish little loser who hasn''t got the brains God gave a bag of rocks, but I REALLY LIKE it when "the man" gets his!

[truthspeake2]

This was once a great country...until the "greed" factor took over in every crack and crevice of corporate America. And now, along with China, corporate America now owns the US. What a difference 30 years or so makes, especially in the wrong hands.

[finewoven]

Time to sell short! (If you know what I''''m talking about). Make money on the way down. BTW, this is an opinion, not investment advice.
Posted by incog-nito at 12:57 PM : Aug 16, 2007

You can only sell short on an up-tick. When the market is falling that would be hard to do. What needs to be done is, perhaps swap out some of the bad company listing and place more solid company listings for the DOW Jones, and then the average would change direction. Maybe swap out all thirty with better performing listings.

[incog-nito]

finewoven: You can always find an uptick when trading individual stocks, even when it''s on its way downn.

[infidel_us]

If you dorks had half a brain, you''d be looking for investment OPPORTUNITIES right now - instaed of whining and bad-mouthing your country!

It''s like stocks went ON SALE! For once in your miserable lives, be part of the solution instead a the problem - for a change!

[red164]

The Bush spin-doctors will be doing a siance over this one but they will answer the house call with a serious dose of war and terror.

Right before 9/11 the Bush team was saying the US is heading for a recession and after 9/11 the recession was the Clinton Admin fault and also because of 9/11; as G.W. famously announced how he had hit the trifecta, now the Bush Admin is going for the pick six. No coincidences that all the new spying programs have been ramped up.

[jester188]

okay for the guy who says we can buy stocks now... okay well considering you can''t just buy one stock... most of the time you have to by multiple... lets say minimum buy in is at $500...

(really simple version of it all)

okay so you buy the minimum.. because to get more you need a loan... and that is going to happen...

so you buy $500 worth... great now what... watch the market crash till it is worth $200... then spend the next year waiting for it to climb to $500 again... if it does...

hear is a better i dea for you... put it under your pillow and wait for the toothfairy...

[shanev137]

You can only sell short on an up-tick. When the market is falling that would be hard to do.
---------

Very, very not true at all.

[usayesterday]

Right before 9/11 the Bush team was saying the US is heading for a recession and after 9/11 the recession was the Clinton Admin fault and also because of 9/11; as G.W. famously announced how he had hit the trifecta, now the Bush Admin is going for the pick six. No coincidences that all the new spying programs have been ramped up.
Posted by red164 at 02:08 PM : Aug 16, 2007
.............

I guess this is possibly setting up for that big "national emergency" where Bush''s "Continuity" plan will take effect...


...and all the efforts our founding fathers had made, along with the freedoms they fought for, and the document that brought it all together (Constitution) will all go up in smoke within the next few months.

If you''ve been grabbing your ankles for the Bush Administration, (and over 90% of the country has already), then you''d better get an extra large jar of Vaseline to lube up the rear even more!

[jn122736]

Could any of this market crash/scare have to do the Murdock takeover?

[MIpapaof4]

Gold along with silver and platinum are also down, a lot. Now is the time to start buying this along with some stocks. Let''s help here instead of sitting around complaining about it. Every little bit helps.

[tnt1954]

stock market gone manic-depressive, bi-polar,
a real teeter-totter market. roller coaster
market. way high, way low, in one day.
by close i betcha it closes over 14 thousand
by design. during the day, megafortunes made
and lost. cool. some like it hot. its elvises
anniversary of going to heaven. rock n roll
heaven.

[fascistusa]

ZEITGEISTmovie.com.

Here comes The Amero - Canada, Mexico, and The US''s New currancy.

The American/Israeli elite RULE America.

Yes, The Answer is "buy stocks" for America!!!

Hahahahhahahah hahah aha hah hah ha ha

Don''t Believe The Hype!!!!

[fascistusa]

ZEITGEISTmovie.com.

Here comes The Amero - Canada, Mexico, and The US''s New currancy.

The American/Israeli elite RULE America.

Yes, The Answer is "buy stocks" for America!!!

Hahahahhahahah hahah aha hah hah ha ha

Don''t Believe The Hype!!!!

[bareemperor]

It''s wake-up time for America.
Bu$h has bankrupt our country, and the note is due.

This is a direct result of Bu$hBanking run amok, no accountability, no donuts...

[red164]

On Wednesday, a Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst downgraded Countrywide to "Sell," just days after calling it a "Buy,"


It''s all good until it goes bad.

[shanev137]

Could any of this market crash/scare have to do the Murdock takeover?

----------

It''s a zero sum game....meaning that when someone makes money....someone has to lose money.

Think back to recently when "the market was doing good"....and the media was hyping it''s great performance.

So what did all the sheeple do?....they ran out and bought stocks......while all the big boys on wall street sold, and sold short.

Get it yet? lol

[red164]

Economic Collapse As Precursor To Open Plan For Martial Law?
Feds Train Clergy To "Quell Dissent" During Martial Law

The open announcement of a program on behalf of the federal government that is recruiting clergy to aid the authorities in "quelling dissent," gun confiscation and forced relocation in the event of martial law has many worried that the current economic plunge could be the precursor for a state of emergency in America.


Feds Train Clergy To "Quell Dissent" During Martial Law
Shocking KSLA 12 news report confirms story we broke last year, Pastors to cite Romans 13 as reason for public to obey government orders, relinquish guns and be taken to camps during state of emergency
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, August 16, 2007



A shocking KSLA news report has confirmed the story we first broke last year, that Clergy Response Teams are being trained by the federal government to "quell dissent" and pacify citizens to obey the government in the event of a declaration of martial law.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/august2007/160807_quell_dissent.htm

[incog-nito]

Reminds me of a famous quote, something like this: "It gets very dark right before everything turns black."

[navyretired2]

"It''''s wake-up time for America.
Bu$h has bankrupt our country, and the note is due.

This is a direct result of Bu$hBanking run amok, no accountability, no donuts...
Posted by BareEmperor at 02:37 PM : Aug 16, 2007"

Negative.

This is NOT a direct result of Bush. This is a direct result of international/central banking and the control they have over worldwide monies.

The Fed being one of the big players as well. Many people still fail to realize that the Fed, is NOT an American government institution, it''s a private banking consolidation owned by five British bankers...yes...BRITISH...bankers. These guys have all the control along with the JP Morgans, etc.

[fascistusa]

ZEITGEISTmovie.com.

Watch the movie. Avoid Part 1. It tells all about The (NOT)Federal Reserve. The Income tax Amendment was NOT Ratified.

Even has the speech that got JFK SHOT.

FREE AMERICA!!!!

[omega39-2009]

Take a good job, outsource it, and replace it with a low wage service job. That lost income that once paid taxes and circulated throughout this economy are now helping some other government and some other economy. What we are seeing is the net result of the above policy repeated millions of times.

[feelfree1]

fascistusa,

Check out the www.ZEITGEISTmovie.com site. It appears to be unavailable (I wonder why?). This is why I have pointed to the Google video link as an alternate, @:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5547481422995115331

Cheers!

[finewoven]

Very, very not true at all.
Posted by shanev137 at 02:29 PM : Aug 16, 2007

shanev137, when you are a licensed stock broker, and like me you have achieved either Series 7, 8, 24, or something similar, you can comment with more intelligence.

But for your benefit: THE UPTICK RULE FOR SELLING - Generally speaking, you cannot sell a stock into a falling market. This is where the "uptick" rule comes into play. Should you attempt to sell borrowed stock, you may find that you have to wait for what is called an "uptick" in some cases. On the NYSE exchange, this means that a short sale may only be done on an uptick or a zero plus tick - a price that is the same price as the last trade, but higher in price than the previous different trade. On the Nasdaq exchange, you cannot short on the bid side of the market when the current inside bid is lower than the previous inside bid (a down tick).