Stock futures indicate Dow to fall below 7,000

Market Watch ^ | 03/02/09 | Steve Goldstein

[TigerLikesRooster]

Stock futures indicate Dow to fall below 7,000

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

Last update: 6:11 a.m. EST March 2, 2009

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures dropped Monday as financial giants like American International Group and HSBC Holdings took moves to raise more capital and as Warren Buffett said the economy would be in "shambles" this year.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) indicated a retreat below the 7,000 level, as the March contract dropped 108 points to 6,944.00. S&P 500 futures (SPY ) fell 14.8 points to 719.40 and Nasdaq 100 futures (QQQQ ) fell 19.75 points to 1,097.20.

U.S. stocks dropped on Friday, and closed the month with its worst performance since 1933. The S&P 500 dropped 10.9%, and has dropped 18.6% so far this year, the worst start to the year on record.

"The path to least resistance remains down," said Alec Young, market strategist at Standard & Poor's. He said Friday's job report might lead to a "real capitulation."

Monday's key report will be the Institute of Supply Management's report on manufacturing sentiment for February. Personal income data for January also will be released, as will January construction spending.

[EBH]

The man in Drawing Room A, Car No 6, was a financier who had made a fortune by buying ‘frozen’ railway bonds and getting his friends in Washington to ‘defreeze’ them.

- Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged”, p566-568

[nicola_tesla]

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. For Pete’s sake, where do you suppose company pension funds invest ??????

You’d prefer to be treated like a child while being kept in the dark where your pension money is sitting ?

Good luck with that.

[nicola_tesla]

The market is being driven down by the fact that global demand is cratering, the debt overhang is too big to sustain, and earnings are going in the crapper.

It’s also being driven down by all the lying bailouts, fake stimulus, and the lack of holding anyone accountable for the blatant fraud in the economy that’s occurred over the last 8 years.

[LibLieSlayer]

He is worse than that.

LLS

[ninonitti]

We stand on the sinking ship as our leader has F’in idea what he is doing.

Nor did his predecessor who spent us into this......this is a systemic problem with our underlying way of doing things. Until they wake up they are going to continue to attempt to inflate a blow out.

[Toddsterpatriot]

This is why we need DEFINED pension plans that are INDEPENDENT of the whims and vagaries of the financial markets.

Yeah! Like Social Security and GM's pension plans, independent of whims and perfectly safe and guaranteed. LOL!

How many times did your mom drop you on your head?

[TomGuy]

The only problem Obama is having is that it's not coming fast enough to where he can still blame Bush

This one started on Bush's watch.

I heard one report over the weekend say that unemployment is rising and may actually already be nearing 20%. The 'official' numbers don't count those who have been used up their UE benefits.

If that is true, then we had a massive cover-up under the Bush Admin, because UE is determined on the previous 3 full quarters. That would mean that UE was much greater than the 'official' 4-5% rates for 2007 and early 2008.

There is a reason that Bush and Paulson were making speeches and news talk appearances in the spring of 2008 with the 'all is well' message.

Considering the rapid nosedive of the whole economy -- employment, banking, housing, insurance, stocks, auto, etc. -- they had to have known that big problems where on the way. The economy is like a freight train. It doesn't stop and go on a whim. It takes allot to slow it down; it takes allot to get it going again.

There had to be signals in 2007 and early 2008 that an economic tsunami was coming.

[ninonitti]

Obama is promising the next crust of bread for you and your children. (figurativly)

These folks are as out of touch as Marie Antoinette saying let them eat cake (I expect to hear something along these lines from someone on the boob tube soon).

[dearolddad]

OK NOW IS THE MEDIA GOING TO FINALLY REPORT THIS IS THE OBAMA CRASH?

Don't bet on it.

Didn't Obummer tell us that when he was elected everything was going to be peachy keen and dandy fine?

[Toddsterpatriot]

The 'official' numbers don't count those who have been used up their UE benefits.

Wrong.

[DuncanWaring]

Our “leader” knows exactly what he’s doing; he’s probably annoyed it’s taking this long.

[Kozak]

If it wasn’t for the fact that most people have their retirements in 401(k)s and 403 (b)s, most people wouldn’t have to worry about the stock market. This is why we need DEFINED pension plans that are INDEPENDENT of the whims and vagaries of the financial markets.

And how are you going to do THAT genius? Even defined pension plans invest in the market. They just don't let YOU decide where to invest the money. Ask the guys in every company thats gone bankrupt and the ones about to go bankrupt how those wonderful "defined pension plans" are working out. Oh yeah, all except the government drones, but they get to hold a gun to the head of the taxpayers to make sure the milk keeps flowing from the teet.

[tobyhill]

The more wasteful spending and the more Obama runs his muck the lower the markets go. The downturn may have started on Bush's watch but it's Obama’s now and he gets the blame. The DOW is down over 2000 since Obama got elected and almost 1000 since he took office.

[Cyropaedia]

Well, someone needs to talk to Jonathan Alter at Newsweek. Did you see his cover story, entitled, "The Confidence Game. How Obama can talk us out of a depression...".

Every time Obama opens his mouth, the stock market tanks another two percentage points.

[Kozak]

When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.

PJ O’Rourke

[1010RD]

Now you are talking sense. Obama is pushing America’s head underwater. That arrogant-face, the media lies to cover for him, and the dummys who voted for him will all pay together.

[EBH]

The unemployment rate figures which are published on a monthly basis are actually derived from a monthly survey of 60,000 households in the United States known as the Current Population Survey. The survey is conducted by the Census Bureau on behalf of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[Toddsterpatriot]

The UI figures are not produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Statistics on insured unemployment in the United States are collected as a by-product of UI programs. Workers who lose their jobs and are covered by these programs typically file claims ("initial claims") that serve as notice that they are beginning a period of unemployment. Claimants who qualify for benefits are counted in the insured unemployment figures (as "continued claims"). Data on UI claims are maintained by the Employment and Training Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor, and are available on the Internet at: http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/unemploy/claims.asp.

These data are not used to measure total unemployment because they exclude several important groups. To begin with, not all workers are covered by UI programs. For example, self-employed workers, unpaid family workers, workers in certain not-for-profit organizations, and several other small (primarily seasonal) worker categories are not covered. In addition, the insured unemployed exclude the following:
Unemployed workers who have exhausted their benefits
Unemployed workers who have not yet earned benefit rights (such as new entrants or reentrants to the labor force)
Disqualified workers whose unemployment is considered to have resulted from their own actions rather than from economic conditions; for example, a worker discharged for misconduct on the job
Otherwise eligible unemployed persons who do not file for benefits

What do the unemployment insurance (UI) figures measure?

[Puddleglum]

My admittedly limited experience shows that even the best funds and the best managers only hike themselves a few points above the index, which is trending down down down. If it were otherwise, investors would “swamp the boat.”

[Chgogal]

“Obama will take the market to Zero. He wants to take over free enterprise.”

And then what? He will have no revenues to reform America into his idea of Karl Marx/Daddy dreams.