11:54 ET Fed Policy : Today's most popular question: What does the Fed see that we don't? They see things that should have been plain as day: plunging investment, rising unemployment, falling consumer spending and confidence. The reasons for a rate cut were compelling; investors simply focussed too much on day-to-day market movements and ignored the continuing deterioration in the economy. See Story Stocks for more.
*****
11:24 ET Nasdaq Composite : -- Technical -- Surges to the 38% retracement (2105) of the slide off the Jan high, up 9.4% on the day and pauses to catch its breath. Back flirting with its 50 day simple ma (2082) but the index has plenty of room before any kind of damage of interest is seen. Next resistances is at the March 08 gap between 2124 and 2161 with a more significant ceiling not found until 2245/2255.
***
11:16 ET Market Cheers Fed : Investors pour into the market in reaction to surprise rate cut. Nasdaq stocks running hard, under "fast market" conditions (market orders being filled in wide ranges, and limit orders are being laughed at). A number of NYSE traded stocks have been halted due to order imbalances, primarily in the tech and financial sectors.
***
11:07 ET Fed Announcement : Today's move came as a surprise to the market, but we have been making the case for a more aggressive Fed based on the continued deterioration in US economic data and the spread of weakness to Asia and Europe. Also, the Fed finally appears to be seeing the root cause of the downturn. In its announcement today, the Fed cited capital investment weakness and the likelihood that it would continue. We have been arguing that this is indeed an investment-led downturn, and that it will necessitate substantial Fed rate cuts.
**
11:00 ET Fed Announcement : Fed retains easing bias even after cutting rates today; suggesting that we will probably see another cut at the May 15 meeting. Move today is very bullish as most had given up on an intermeeting rate cut
**
10:56 ET Fed Cuts Rates : Fed cuts funds rate 50 bps to 4.50%. |
