Stocks at Wall Street continue to drop

Indices end in the red even starting the day in the green

Stocks at Wall Street ended with losses on Thursday, 18 December. Though stocks on Wall Street started the day in the green, stocks soon slipped back in the red despite rumors in Wall Street that the auto companies might be bailed out before 25 December, 2008. Other than that, oil prices fell to $37/barrel. Seven out of ten sectors ended in the red today led by the energy and industrial sectors.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average ended down by 219 points at 8,604, the Nasdaq closed down by 26 points at 1,552.3 and the S&P 500 closed down by 19 points at 885.

The stock market opened higher after investors received better-than-expected quarterly earnings results from FedEx and Nike along with news that automakers could receive federal funding before 25 Dec, 2008.

Economic bellwether General Electric had its credit outlook lowered late in the session. The announcement induced selling pressure.

Among economic reports of the day, weekly initial jobless claims and continuing claims were down a bit from the prior week, and essentially in-line with expectations. Claims totaled 554,000 and 4.38 million, respectively. The claims data reflects the weakness of labor markets and the broader economy.

To help stimulate the economy President-elect Obama is reportedly planning an $850 billion economic stimulus plan. The plan would likely be phased in.

Crude prices continued to drop substantially even today, Thursday, 18 December, 2008. Prices fell due to a strong dollar and also as OPEC announced another production cut yesterday. But prices fell as an impact of the weekly inventory report by the energy department that hit wires yesterday pointing towards lower energy demand.

On Thursday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for January delivery closed at $36.22/barrel (lower by $3.84 or 9.6%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the day, prices touched a low of $35.98. Prices reached a high of $147 on 11 July but have dropped almost 75% since then. For this year in 2008, crude prices have dropped 59%.

For tomorrow, though there are no economic reports expected, trading is expected to be heavy and volatile due to quadruple witching.