Bailout Breaths Cause For Market Turnaround
Posted On Thursday, January 15, 2009 at at 7:05 PM by Finance FanaticI don't know whether it was Bush's departure speech or our newest fix of bailouts that pulled off a huge momentum change in the middle of day today. The Dow dipped below 8000, before immediately turning around and actually closing up at 8212. Amazing, especially after the series of events which have transpired throughout the week. These days I never underestimate the market's ability to start buying out of pure speculation. In any event, today's miracle puts a bit of a different light of what I was planning to do with my portfolio the next couple weeks. This turnaround today, could indeed be the ones that continues to go on into Obama's inauguration. Once again, it is all based on government intervention, no actual numbers, and a false hope that, in my opinion, is once again just going to temporarily slow the pain.
So what happened today? Well, one item that seemed to make people happy is that Congress did not pass the bill that would put a hold on the remaining $350 billion of the TARP funds. This tees up Obama quite well to do whatever pleases him with the remaining funds. Lets hope that the second half of the funds go a bit farther than the first did. The problem is that there is such a big deficit of debt to fill, it's like trying to fill a meteor crater with shovels of dirt. It's going to take a long time.
Another element worth noting is the VIX level slowly climbing up. Many people say we are not vulnerable for a crash right now, because the volume's not there and the volatility is not there. As that can be partially true, the VIX level has definitely been rising the past week and should continue to rise as uncertainty continues and more woes hit the headlines. If volatility levels do indeed reach those October levels and beyond, watch out.
Citi is expecting a loss in their earnings tomorrow, which could be bad for their already $3.83 stock price. Call me crazy, but Citi is becoming appealing to me as a buy. I know people worry of another Lehman, but I do not feel the government will let this one go. Sure they're going to have their continual share of problems, but if they have another beating of a day with their stock price tomorrow due to earnings, I plan on picking up 1000 shares. With an announcement from Obama, as well as the probability of Bank of America getting $15 billion more from the Fed, Citi is very capable of having a 50%+ day, easily. So we'll see how tomorrow plays out, but it is definitely on the radar. For you first time traders or those that are unhappy with your online accounts, you can get free monthly trades at Zecco.com, worth checking out.
Well, Fridays can be interesting. It wasn't long back that every Friday was a rally. That hasn't been the case lately, but today's powerful turnaround could bring some optimism to end the week. However, a bad enough number from Citi could definitely set a selling tone for the day. Either way, I'm happy about my current position and hope for some good gains tomorrow. Definitely watch SKF and FAZ tomorrow. Have a great night and Happy Trading.