Posted on 01/21/2010 10:08:32 AM PST by My Favorite Headache
NEW YORK (AP) - Financial shares pulled the stock market lower Thursday as President Barack Obama proposed rules that would limit the types of trading banks can do with their money.
The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled over 200 points after dropping 122 points on Wednesday. The index has seen four straight triple-digit swings. Bond prices rose as the stock market became more volatile.
Tightening the rules on how big banks trade their money could hurt profits at those companies.
Broader concerns also dogged investors. Patrick Galley, chief investment officer at RiverNorth Capital in Chicago, said stocks have risen so fast in the past 10 months that expectations about an economic recovery are getting too high.
"The market can be quite fickle just because of the huge run-up that we've had," he said. "A lot of folks have their trigger finger on the sell button if they start to sense that news won't meet expectations."
The market was mixed earlier as good earnings news was tempered by an unexpected jump in initial jobless claims. But banks, which have driven the market over the past year and a half, were the focus by late morning.
The Labor Department said workers filing for unemployment benefits for the first time rose by 36,000 to 482,000 last week. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting a small drop.
The report provided a grim reminder that while the economy might have improved modestly, a robust recovery is unlikely until companies start adding jobs. The unemployment rate remained at 10 percent last month.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve said manufacturing in its region fell in January from December. Its index of regional manufacturing conditions fell to 15.2 from a revised 22.5 last month.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
What your liberal friends are really saying to you is that all it will take is for Obama to manage to do 2 or 3 things right - out of 4 years - for them to have only 3 or 4 stories to report in the mainstream news. Over. And. Over.
Someone needs to run against Bawny/ All they would have to do is show video of Barney’s comments regarding the two and list the facts about Fanny and Freddy....Are there any freepers in that MA area? Could run as a Dem/Indy or GOP.
“Congress’ Financial Mess”
http://economics.gmu.edu/wew/articles/09/CongressFinancialMess.htm
Professor David Henderson, research fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, writes about regulation in “Are We Ailing From Too Much Deregulation?” in Cato Policy Report (November/December 2008).
The Federal Register, which lists new regulations, annually averaged 72,844 pages between 1977 and 1980. During the Reagan years, the average fell to 54,335. During the Bush I years, they rose to 59,527, to 71,590 during the Clinton years and rose to a record of 75,526 during the Bush II years. Employees in government regulatory agencies grew from 146,139 in 1980 to 238,351 in 2007, a 63 percent increase.
In the banking and finance industries, regulatory spending between 1980 and 2007 almost tripled, rising from $725 million to $2.07 billion. So here’s my question: What are we to make of congressmen, talking heads and news media people who tell us the financial meltdown is a result of deregulation and free markets? Are they ignorant, stupid or venal?
Right. It has been an artificial rally based on government stimulus. Same with houses. They need to go to the real bottom then we can start to re-build the Free Market as opposed to the artificial “Public Market”.
I don’t think the entire rally has been “artificial.” The rally has begotten the rally, to some extent as well. And there’s “price discovery” going on.
The assault on capitalism continues...
Dunno I am not an expert on it and do not invest there. Just what I was thinking.
I’m old enough to remember when banks were the most respected institutions in town. Stop forcing them to make bad loans, stop meddling in the financial markets, and let the States regulate banks - which they used to do fairly well.
Hear, hear.
Obama could put all the US banks out of business (and he might); companies would just go to London or Hong Kong to get money.
True, but their cost of capital would increase - no?
Here comes an investment opportunity!
I do believe the Fed is warning him to leave the Banksters alone. Many think the market has be manipulated to stay high. Watch also if the vote on Bernanke does not look good, the market will tank on those rumors also.
It will take a much more popular and tougher President than Bam to hold the Banksters accountable. Read about Jackson/Biddle in 1836.
schu
On Wednesday, 27 January, Barack Hussein Obama will deliver his first “State of the Union” speech as president, a self evaluation of his first year’s achievements.
Sprinkled between his infamous “let me be clear” or “make no mistake” introduction to his lies, he will, characteristically, attempt to spin a plethora of failures into something including these phony fallback phrases: back from the brink; signs of recovery; restored our reputation; achieved some successes; more work yet to do; fiscal restraint; greed on Wall Street; affordable health care; relief for working families; job creation.
If you can stomach this guy long enough perhaps your chosen career will be carefully, and thoughfully, selected for smearing on national television.
I can easily believe the lower poster would be real. Was it? Is there a link?
...“let me be clear”...
The press sure gave ole Nixon the devil for his use of “Let me make one thing perfectly clear”. Obambi gets a pass though.
Wrong. The democrats believed that the banks were evil. Us normal Americans saw the banks as exactly what they are. Groups of stockholders looking to make money.
Nick, Nick, Nick,
You've been around long enough to know the proper terminology. They weren't an "ugly" surprise. They were an "unexpected" surprise. :^)
Way to go Obama. You would at some point even a narcissist would develop a complex when everything he touches wilts.
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