All eyes on Wall Street turned to Capitol Hill this morning, as President George W. Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke unveiled a drastic new plan for the U.S. government to provide relief to strained financial markets. Among the unprecedented measures being taken, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered a temporary, emergency ban on short-selling on nearly 800 financial stocks in an effort to curb volatility in the sector. While critics of the government's intervention tossed around words like "bailout" and "socialism," the market responded with unfettered enthusiasm. Within the first 10 minutes of trading, the Dow was sitting on a gain of more than 400 points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA – 11,388.44) finally settled on a gain of 369 points, or 3.4%, as 23 of its 30 components advanced into positive territory. Financial firms Bank of America (BAC) and J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) blazed the path higher, while Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) endured the biggest drop after hitting a new annual high in early trading. Despite the massive daily point swings the Dow has experienced, the blue-chip barometer wrapped up the week nearly flat on a loss of 0.3%.
The S&P 500 Index (SPX – 1,254.99) surged more than 4% today, adding 48 points, and managed to finish the week up 0.3%. Finally, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP – 2,273.9) gained about 75 points, or 3.4%, for its own weekly gain of 0.6%.
Turning to equities in focus, NVIDIA (NVDA) rallied after the company announced a 6.5% workforce reduction ... Call volume soared on U.S. Bancorp (USB) as the shares broke through long-term resistance ... State Street (STT) scrambled to reassure investors about its capital position ... KeyCorp (KEY) shares soared after an upgrade to "sector perform" ... Chinese search engine Baidu.com (BIDU) found itself sucked into a tainted-milk scandal ... and today's Quote of the Day comes from overworked Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who's burned the midnight oil more than once during the recent financial crisis. One has to wonder if there wasn't a bit of sarcasm behind his opening remark in today's press conference:
"Good morning, everyone. Hope you got a lot of sleep last night."
But these weren't the only headlines hitting the Street today. Click on the links below for our Daily Market Blog coverage of:
And, in case you missed it, our own Mark Fightmaster went out on a limb to examine the prospects for Humana (HUM) in this week's edition of StockCenter. Click here to watch the video.
For today's activity in crude oil, gold futures, options, and more, turn to page 2.
While nobody was looking, crude oil soared today and reclaimed a foothold atop the century mark. Thanks to the effects of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, production and refining operations along the Gulf Coast continue to run at lowered capacity. Meanwhile, some traders worried that the Fed's bailout plan for banks could prompt another uptick in inflation, which enhanced oil's attractiveness as an inflationary hedge. By the close, October-dated crude oil tacked on $6.67, or nearly 7%, to finish at $104.55 per barrel. The front-month contract gained more than 3% this week.
On the other hand, gold futures pulled back significantly today, as the government's rescue package suddenly reawakened the market's appetite for risk. The safe-haven commodity fell 7.6% at its intraday nadir, marking its largest percentage drop since February 1983. Gold for December delivery eventually settled on a more modest loss of 3.6%, or $32.30, at $864.70 per ounce. However, today's pullback wasn't sufficient to erase the impressive gains gold collected earlier this week -- the contract finished the week up 13%.
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