U.S. stocks plunged on Friday, ending the week and the month on a losing note after losses by American International Group Inc. shook up Wall Street and poor results from Dell Inc. rocked the tech sector.
"We had a trainload of bad news; they couldn't keep the bad news coming fast enough," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 315.79 points to 12,266.39, giving the blue-chip gauge a weekly loss of 0.9%. The Dow fell 3% in February, and is down 7.5% for the year to date.
All of the Dow's 30 components spent the final day of February in the red. Pacing the action was AIG (AIG), off more than 7% after the insurance giant reported the largest loss in its almost 90 years in business. .
"It will be interesting to see what happens next week, since we're in for the same combination of bad economic data and bad corporate news -- that's what happens when you have an economic slowdown," Hogan said.
Other financial stocks were hit as well, with shares of Ambac Inc. (ABK) down 5.6% on reports that a plan to provide the firm with new capital has hit a snag.
Outside the Dow industrials, Dell Inc. (DELL) fell 4.7% after the PC maker reported fourth-quarter profits fell 6% from a year ago.
The S&P 500 (SPX) dropped 37.05 points to 1,330.63, down 1.7% for the week; 3.5% for the month and 9.4% year-to-date.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) declined 60.99 points to 2, 271.48, a drop of 1.4% on the week; a 5% decline for February and 14% so far this year.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange topped 1.7 billion, with nearly seven stocks posting losses for each share on the rise. On the Nasdaq, nearly 1.2 billion shares traded hands, with decliners stocks topping those advancing more than 4 to 1.
Sector snap
Often isolated from the carnage of late, the tech sector joined the suffering this time, with declines coming from bellwethers including Hewlett-Packard Co. ( HPQ) and IBM Corp. (IBM). .
Retail stocks also slipped amid gloomy news on consumer spending, with the S&P Retail Index (RLX) off about 3.3%. .
Gold futures finished with gains, having hit a record high of $978.50 an ounce overnight, as the metal continues to draw support from weakness in the U.S. dollar and rising investment flows into commodities. Gold for April delivery ended up $7.50 at $975 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold posted a weekly gain of $27.20 from last Friday's closing level of $947.80. .
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The Dow and the dollar have a long way to fall yet.
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*As is true of all witch-hunting groups, the greatest sin was not so much the specific transgressions of the member, but any refusal to sanction the heresy-hunting procedure itself. - Rothbard
* Ron Paul for President
Has anything been fixed on the federal budget, the trade gap, insolvent banks, or increasingly underwater homeowners, and most importantly the falling home prices?
I'm a bull. I maintain my buy and hold portfolios. The ones that are destroying the markets and mutual funds. I love days like today. Hopefully, we can eventually - by the time this bear market is over - get the DOW down to the high 10k's. It's going to take a while, but I think we can do it.
I'll be upset with anything less than an 80% return from the effects of this recession. I've made it about 1/8th of the way there thusfar.
It's an addage that's as old as the hills. You buy when others are fearful, and sell when others are greedy.
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*As is true of all witch-hunting groups, the greatest sin was not so much the specific transgressions of the member, but any refusal to sanction the heresy-hunting procedure itself. - Rothbard
* Ron Paul for President
Much better. That chart paints a completely different picture. That chart shows that you should be shedding your gold profits, and beginning to enter stocks, sliding from one to the other.
It demonstrates that in 1931, 1975, and in about 1 to 2 years, people should have enough cash ready to be heavily into the stock market.
Much better. That chart paints a completely different picture. That chart shows that you should be shedding your gold profits, and beginning to enter stocks, sliding from one to the other.
It demonstrates that in 1931, 1975, and in about 1 to 2 years, people should have enough cash ready to be heavily into the stock market.
It doesnt really paint a different picture at all. It merely confirms that the previous historical trend is repeating.
Better to hold off until the gold/dow ratio approaches historical bottoms. We are at about 20, look for entries around 1-3. I wouldnt be about to jump in when, if history repeats (as is its habit), I could enter at one tenth of that in another 1-3 years. Why sell 20oz of gold for 1 dow when you are likely to be able to sell 20oz gold for 20 dow later on?
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*As is true of all witch-hunting groups, the greatest sin was not so much the specific transgressions of the member, but any refusal to sanction the heresy-hunting procedure itself. - Rothbard
* Ron Paul for President
Dow Down 315 today
Hybrid Mode
