U.S. Markets
Dow +35.50 (+0.29%)
Nasdaq +19.74 (+0.88%)
S&P 500 +6.71 (+0.51%)
News That Moved the Market
Market Gets a Boost From Standard & Poor's. Stocks began the session lower after a couple pieces of negative news, but were able to recover nicely following S&P's report that the bulk of the writedowns from subprime securities may be behind us. The ratings agency did increase its estimate for the total amount of the writedowns by $20 billion to $285 billion, but investors focused on the news that the end of this subprime mess could be in sight.
Another Fund Goes Under. Late Wednesday Carlyle Capital, a bond fund affiliated with the private-equity firm Carlyle Group, announced it had failed to find new financing or strike new a deal with its lenders, and would have to give up all its current assets. The collapse of the fund weighed on stocks in Europe and pushed U.S. futures into negative territory before the open. The fund, which had received more than $400 million in margin calls since March 5th, was severely crippled by the declines in demand and price of mortgage-backed securities.
Retail Sales Tumble. Retail sales unexpectedly decreased by 0.6% last month, raising fears of a recession. Economists were anticipating an increase of 0.1%. The figure is a key indicator of the strength for the U.S. consumer, and this report showed that perhaps a weaker economy combined with record high commodity prices are taking their tole. U.S. consumer spending makes up 70% of the GDP.
Quick Tics:
Time Warner (TWX, -1.7%) agreed to buy social networking site Bebo for $850 million…
Gold traded above $1,000 for the first time, but ended the session up $13.30 at $933.80/ounce...
Visa's $16 billion IPO, set for March 20th, is oversubscribed.
Tomorrow Notable Earnings
AnnTaylor Stores (ANN) Before Open
Liz Claiborne (LIZ) Before Open
Economic Events:
8:30 AM: CPI
10:00 AM: Michigan Sentiment-Prel.
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