Posts Tagged life insurer

Stocks tumble at end of tough week

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Favourites, Fund Markets on May 15th, 2009

Stocks fell Friday at the end of a down week on Wall Street, the first weekly decline in all three major indexes in 10 weeks, as investors reacted to economic news and word of General Motors’ dealership closings.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 63 points, or 0.8%. The S&P 500 (SPX) index lost 10 points, or 1.1%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 9 points or 0.5%.

“I think we needed a technical correction after the previous nine weeks,” said Tom Schrader, managing director at Stifel Nicolaus.

“We came pretty far pretty fast and this week has been about taking a breather,” he said. “We may see a few more weeks of this, especially now that earnings are over, as we wait for the next catalyst.”

Since hitting what many see as a bottom on March 9, stocks have been on a tear. The Dow and S&P 500 rose for eight of the nine previous weeks and the Nasdaq advanced for nine in a row. Read the rest of this entry »

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U.S. Stocks Gain, Capping Biggest Jump Since 1933 as Banks Rise

Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Favourites, Fund Markets on April 10th, 2009

U.S. stocks rose for a fifth week, capping the steepest rally since 1933, as Wells Fargo & Co.’s higher-than-estimated earnings and speculation banks will pass government stress tests spurred optimism that the industry’s slump is ending.

Bank of America Corp., American Express Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. helped drive a gauge of 80 financial companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a 9.4 percent advance. Wells Fargo surged 20 percent after reporting record first-quarter profit. Lincoln National Corp. and Principal Financial Group Inc. jumped at least 37 percent as the Treasury considered bailouts for life insurers.

“This was a really, really positive start to the earnings season,” Hugh Johnson, who oversees $750 million as chairman of Johnson Illington Advisors in Albany, New York, told Bloomberg Television. “Banks are not going to be forced to take the kind of write-offs they had to take in prior quarters.”

The S&P 500 gained 1.7 percent to 856.56. It has soared 27 percent since March 9, the most in 23 days since the Great Depression, according to Howard Silverblatt, an analyst at S&P. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8 percent to 8,083.38 this week. U.S. exchanges are closed today for Good Friday.  Read the rest of this entry »

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