Housing in a 2nd dip, and June opens with 2.2% drop in Dow Jones

[Rusty Shackleford]

Wall Street Journal Article on market losses (http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110601-714912.html)

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--U.S. stocks suffered their biggest declines since the middle of last year as a slew of downbeat reports prompted fears the economic recovery is running out of steam.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 279.65 points, or 2.2%, to 12290.14, the biggest point drop since June 4, 2010. Caterpillar dropped $4.56, or 4.3%, to 101.24, while Alcoa shares sank 72 cents, or 4.3%, to 16.09 and Bank of America fell 50 cents, or 4.3%, to 11.24.
All 30 of the blue-chip components finished in negative territory. The Dow, which snapped a four-day winning steak, dropped by more than 2% for only the second time this year.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 30.65 points, or 2.3%, to 1314.55, its biggest drop since August 11. The financial, industrial and material sectors each fell more than 3%. Only 10 stocks in the S&P 500 finished in positive territory.


Businessweek on Housing price drop (http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9NIEDN80.htm)


An index of home prices in the country's major metro areas has sunk to its lowest level since the housing bubble burst in late 2006.
Prices fell from February to March in 18 of the metro areas tracked by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index. And prices in a dozen markets have reached their lowest points since the housing crisis began. Prices in March rose only in the Seattle and Washington, D.C., metro areas.
A record number of foreclosures are forcing home prices down, and they are expected to keep falling through this year.
The 12 cities now at their lowest levels in nearly four years are: Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., and Tampa.








No, its not another economic apocalypse but it looks like there may be a trend towards a second dip. With the housing market being pretty much bottomed out it doesnt serve as a good indicator for investors. And though Wall Street doesnt reflect the true nature of the ongoing crisis, it is pretty much an indicator of the profitability of investment for the bourgeoisie.

Also: Businessweek on Greece's credit rating downgrade (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-06-01/greek-default-risk-raised-by-moody-s-as-bond-aid-readied.html)


June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Greece’s risk of default was raised to 50 percent by Moody’s Investors Service as European officials rushed to put together the second bailout plan in two years to stave off renewed financial turmoil in the region.
Moody’s downgraded Greece to Caa1 from B1, putting it on a par with Cuba, according to a report published late yesterday. The move came after policy makers considered asking investors to reinvest in new Greek debt when existing bonds mature.


The hit the stock market took today was likened to the hit it took when the fukushima reactor started to be a major problem. Influenced by loss in confidence in greece and bad job numbers, the market dropped today.

so yeah, thoughts?

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Am I the only one thinking that the market will never actually recover?

I stopped caring a while ago.

[Rusty Shackleford]

6 straight weeks of losses for the market

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/business/11markets.html

http://markets.on.nytimes.com/research/tools/builder/api.asp?sym=$DJI&duration=1&chartstyle=ArticleSpan&w=600&h=230&display=fillclose&topLabel=Dow%20Industrials


Stocks on Wall Street closed sharply lower on Friday on sentiment that analysts attributed to a sense that the global economy was slowing and that European debt problems were entrenched.

The three main indexes closed off more than 1 percent, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing at 11,951.91, down 172.45 points, a loss of 1.42 percent. The last time it closed below 12,000 was on March 18, at 11,858.52.

It was also the Dow’s sixth consecutive week with a loss.

There was little daily economic data to directly depress sentiment, but analysts said traders were generally disappointed with economic growth.

“The markets on the whole are reacting to what we think is a slowdown period of both the U.S. and the broader economy,” Jason D. Pride, the director of investment strategy at Glenmede, said.

“And to put a cherry on top of the scenario, as far as downside pressures, you have this significant unease surrounding exactly what is going to come from the Greek debt issues.”

Also in Oil news. OPEC failed to agree on whether or not to increase production quotas recently which set the price of oil to jump a bit. One minister said "this was the worst OPEC meeting ever"

The autocracies are in favor of increasing ouput (Saudi Aravia, Kuwait, UAE) while Iran Venezuela and Iraq wanted to keep production at its current level.


NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The two oil futures contracts used to set the price of crude worldwide are spinning further out of each other's orbit, and traders in both markets are struggling to explain why.



Light, sweet crude settled 2.6% lower at $99.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday, while Brent crude on ICE Futures Europe fell 84 cents to $118.73 a barrel.



The nearly $20 gap is an all-time high, and would have been unthinkable before this year. The two contracts traditionally trade within $1 of each other. But a glut of oil at the Nymex contract's delivery point in Cushing, Okla. has weighed on U.S. futures prices, while production problems in the North Sea have boosted Brent's value.
But this week's blowout in the price spread has some traders scratching their heads. Cushing supplies are at their lowest since February, and Brent's production issues have been well-telegraphed over the past few weeks. Yet the gap, which had stabilized between $12 and $15, has steadily grown over the last few trading sessions.



"This level is kind of an absurdity," said Kyle Cooper, managing partner at IAF Energy Advisors.



Both contracts had a volatile week, first rising after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to raise production quotas at its meeting on Wednesday, then sinking on Friday on reports that Saudi Arabia increased output on its own. Brent held onto more of its earlier gains on Friday, creating the nearly $20 price gap.


Also, a recent poll by CNN (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56504.html) shows that 48% believe there is going to be a depression in the next 12 months.