1) Big Banks Deliver Mixed Earnings Results

The financial sector produced mixed results Wednesday as banks continue to struggle with bad credit.

Bank of America (BAC) posted a loss of $5.2 billion, or 60 cents a share, for the fourth quarter. That was worse than the prior year's 48-cent per-share shortfall and below analyst views for a 52-cent loss. Results were hurt by higher credit costs, lower net interest income and the bank's repayment of U.S. government bailout aid.

Elsewhere, Wells Fargo (WFC) swung to a fourth-quarter profit on a pickup in fee income, even as it repaid $25 billion in bailout funds to the U.S. government.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley (MS) earned $617 million, or 29 cents a share, during the last three months of 2009 as its investment banking operations profited from its Smith Barney joint venture. Still, results were below analyst expectations of a profit of 36 cents a share.

BofA, which was one of the hardest hit by the credit crisis and recession, said its results were boosted by strong results from its Merrill Lynch investment banking operations that it acquired a year ago .

Its report fell in line with those of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup ©, both of which had billions in losses from bad loans offset by investment banking income.

The industry's results are a concern for economists and investors, who question whether the economy can have a sustained strong recovery if consumers are still defaulting on loans.

BofA CEO Brian Moynihan echoed those concerns in a statement, saying that "economic conditions remain fragile and we expect high unemployment levels to continue, creating an ongoing drag on consumer spending and growth."

The bank set aside $10.1 billion to cover soured loans, down nearly 14% from the previous quarter. Like Citigroup, Bank of America said it saw some signs of improvement in its loan portfolios. The company said it charged off $8.4 billion in loans during the quarter, down $1.2 billion from the third quarter. Loans are charged off when they are considered uncollectible.

But credit costs remained high, with the bank's credit card unit posting a $1.03 billion loss — well above a $9 million loss a year ago.

On the upside, BofA said its global wealth and investment management unit saw net income rise to $1.3 billion in the quarter, up from $515 million a year earlier. The gain was driven by the addition of Merrill Lynch.

On Tuesday, Citi said it lost $7.58 billion in the fourth quarter as consumers continued to struggle to repay loans and the bank repaid its government bailout. The bank said it set aside $8.18 billion to cover bad loans during the most recent quarter.

Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, reported a profit of $2.82 billion, or 8 cents a share. Analysts on average expected a loss of 1 cent a share. It lost 79 cents a share the prior year, excluding the impact of its buyout of Wachovia.

While analysts broadly view the San Francisco-based bank as among the stronger survivors of the financial crisis, it is facing mounting losses on Wachovia mortgage portfolios.

Loan losses climbed to $5.9 billion in the fourth quarter from $3 billion a year earlier, driven by residential and commercial mortgage losses.

But the bank set aside only $5.9 billion against loan losses in the quarter, compared with $8.4 billion a year earlier.

Morgan Stanley recorded its second straight profitable quarter following a year of losses. Investment banking, the bulk of its business, has been one of the few healthy segments in the struggling financial industry.

Still, investors have faulted Morgan Stanley for not profiting enough from investment banking and the stock market's big 2009 rally. The company has lagged industry leader Goldman Sachs (GS), which reports its fourth-quarter results on Thursday.

2) New Construction Falls, Inflation Eases

Construction of new homes dipped unexpectedly last month as bad weather hit much of the country. Applications for future projects, however, soared in a sign the industry is ramping up after a debilitating bust.

Meanwhile, inflation pressures at the wholesale level eased in December as a drop in energy prices offset a big jump in food costs.

The Commerce Department on Wednesday said construction of new homes and apartments fell 4% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000 from an upwardly revised 580,000 in November.

The results were lower than the 572,000 forecast by some economists. The results were led by declines of 19% in the Northeast and Midwest. Construction fell 1% in the West, but rose more than 3% in the South.

Applications for new building permits, a gauge of future activity, rose 11% to an annual rate of 653,000. That was a far stronger showing than economists had predicted and the highest level of activity since October 2008.

The industry has dramatically scaled back construction amid the worst housing bust in decades. Thousands of foreclosed homes have been dumped on the market at bargain prices that make it difficult for the builders to compete.

For all of last year, builders started construction on more than 550,000 homes, down nearly 40 percent from a year earlier and lowest on records dating back to 1959.

The report comes after a survey showed builders' sentiment about the market remains weak. The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday its index of industry confidence fell in January to the lowest level since last summer.

The drop reflects fears that demand for new homes will be sluggish despite the extension of a federal tax credit.

To give a boost to the still-struggling housing market, Congress decided in November to extend the deadline for a tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers until April and expanded it to include $6,500 for existing homeowners who move.

Elsewhere, the Labor Department said Wednesday that wholesale prices edged up 0.2% last month, much slower than the 1.8% surge in November. Energy prices, which had been up for two months, fell in December.

The price performance at the wholesale level combined with last week's benign reading on consumer prices, supported the view that inflation is not a problem.

That gives the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates low to boost the country out of a deep recession.

The 0.2% overall increase was slightly higher than the flat reading economists had expected, while the unchanged reading on core prices was lower than the 0.1% advance analysts had forecast.

Energy costs fell by 0.4% in December as the price of gasoline declined by 3.2% — the biggest one-month decline since September. Natural gas prices fell by 1.9%, the biggest decline since last May.

Food costs rose by 1.4%, the third straight month of higher food costs. The December gain was led by a 9.4% rise in pork prices — the biggest increase in a decade — and a 3.7% increase in the cost of dairy products, the largest advance in more than two years.

The rise in food costs accounted for one-fifth of December's overall 0.2% rise in wholesale inflation.

The flat reading for core prices, which excludes food and energy, was helped by a 1.2% dip in the cost of light trucks, a category that includes sport utility vehicles.

For the 12 months ending in December, prices at the wholesale level were up 4.4% compared to a 0.9% drop in wholesale prices in 2008. That big swing reflected a rise in energy costs in 2009.

Core inflation at the wholesale level was much better behaved last year, rising by 0.9% after having surged by 4.5% in 2008.

Last Friday, the government reported that consumer prices edged up a slight 0.1% in December with core prices up the same amount. That finished off a year in which consumer prices rose by 2.7%, reflecting higher energy costs during the year. Excluding food and energy, core consumer prices were up 1.8%, matching the rise in 2008.

Many economists look for inflation pressures to moderate even more in 2010 as the worst recession since the 1930s keeps exerting downward pressure on prices.

The low inflation has allowed Federal Reserve officials to push a key interest rate to its lowest level on record. The Fed's target for banks' overnight lending rate has been at 0 to 0.25% for more than a year.

Many analysts believe the Fed will keep rates low for much of 2010 because of their belief that the economy will not be growing fast enough to keep the unemployment rate from rising.

The jobless rate currently stands at 10%. Many forecasters reckon it will hit 10.5% by the middle of this year before starting to decline.

China Woes And Dollar Hurt Stocks

5:15 p.m. Update: China's credit policy concerns, a stronger dollar and mixed bag of earnings and economic reports pressured stocks Wednesday. But the major indexes trimmed a good chunk of losses by the close.

The NYSE composite cut a 2.3% shortfall to 1.5%. But that was still its biggest drop in a month. The Nasdaq trimmed a 2.2% deficit to 1.3%. The Dow and S&P 500 fell 1.1% each.

Volume climbed on both exchanges.

AsiaInfo Holdings (ASIA) dropped 6% on nearly twice its average trade. The stock sliced its 50-day moving average.

Home Inns & Hotels (HMIN) lost 6% in heavy volume. The stock cleared a 38.10 buy point from a square box Jan. 4, but triggered the 8% sell rule seven sessions later.

Community Health Systems (CYH) shed 6% on three times normal trade. The Republican win in Massachusetts makes health reform seem less likely. This is bad for hospital operators that would miss out on new admissions.

Group mate Universal Health Services (UHS) lost nearly 6% on twice its average volume. The stock closed just above its 50-day moving average

On the upside, Cree (CREE) gapped up and bolted nearly 18% to its best level since November 2000. Late Tuesday, the LED maker delivered a 90% surge in fiscal Q2 earnings and gave a bright outlook for the current quarter.

In after-hours news, Starbucks (SBUX) delivered fiscal Q1 results above views and raised its full-year profit outlook. Shares rose 2%.

eBay (EBAY) gained 3% after reporting Q4 results above views.

Earnings Thursday: Bottomline Technologies (EPAY), EZcorp (EZPW), Google (GOOG), Goldman Sachs (GS), Precision Castparts (PCP), UnitedHealth Group (UNH) and Western Digital (WDC).

Initial jobless claims, leading economic indicators and the Philly Fed index will also be out Thursday.

Stocks Finish Off Lows

4:15 p.m. Update: Stocks got hit Wednesday, but closed off their worst levels of the session.

The NYSE composite dropped 1.5% and the Nasdaq 1.3%. The Dow and S&P 500 fell 1.1% each. All major indexes were off by more than 2% at session lows.

Hospital operators and gold producers were among the worst groups. Super regional banks and some energy-related groups bucked the downtrend.

China’s Economy Grows 10.7%, Fueling Fears Of More Tightening

China declared Thursday it has recovered from the global crisis after fourth-quarter growth jumped to 10.7% vs. a year earlier.

But inflation picked up, adding to pressure on Beijing to prevent overheating and keep its economic recovery on track.

Analysts say it's time for Beijing to start winding down its stimulus and focus on controlling inflation. Quarterly growth exceeded most forecasts and raised 2009's expansion to 8.7%, up from a low of 6.1% in the first quarter.

"China has become the first, on the whole, to achieve recovery and stabilization in its economy," said Ma Jiantang, commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics, at a news conference. But he said China still faces "uncertainties" and a weak global outlook, so the government will avoid major changes in economic policy.

Chinese leaders say stimulus spending will continue, but they worry about rising prices and have ordered banks to curb lending after the record surge in 2009. Economists expect an interest-rate hike to cool demand for credit, tamp down inflation and prevent bubbles in real estate and stock prices, which are up sharply.

Reflecting the new pressures on the government, Ma said consumer prices picked up in the fourth quarter after falling for much of the year. Prices rose 0.6% in November from a year earlier , and the rate rose to 1.9% in December.

"That's a huge jump," said Citigroup economist Ken Peng. He said it was the sharpest one-month rise in inflation since February 2008, when China was suffering record consumer price hikes.

"Stimulus definitely should end," Peng said. "The authorities are absolutely right to be intensifying tightening efforts at this moment."

Inflation is especially politically sensitive in China, where rising prices erode economic gains that underpin the ruling Communist Party's claim to power.

China's total 2009 gross domestic output was 33.5 trillion yuan ($4.9 trillion), bringing it closer to overtaking Japan as the second-largest economy, after the U.S.

Still, Ma stressed that China sees itself as a poor country. He said average income for city dwellers in 2009 was 18,858 yuan ($2,700), while in the populous countryside it was just 5,153 yuan ($752).

"Despite the increase in our GDP and economic strength, we still have to recognize that China is a developing country," he said. "We have to be keenly aware of that."

Among other positive signs, Beijing reported earlier this month that exports in December grew for the first time in 14 months, rising by a robust 17.7%. Consumer spending also is growing at double-digit annual rates, driven by a 45% surge in auto sales in 2009 that saw China overtake the U.S. as the biggest car market.

But the flood of bank lending and stimulus spending last year helped to fuel speculation in real estate and stocks. Chinese leaders worry that housing prices are rising too fast for the country's poor majority and could lead to a dangerous bust that might leave banks with a burden of bad loans.

China's main stock index rose 80% last year, while newspapers are filled with stories about eye-popping prices being paid for luxury apartments.

"The price of assets is probably growing too fast," said Ma, the statistics official.

Banks were ordered last week to increase the amount of reserves they hold in an effort to prevent a surge in lending. The top bank regulator said Wednesday that the government will closely monitor credit.

"Turning the taps off might be a bigger challenge than turning them on," said Tom Orlik, an economist in Beijing for Stone & McCarthy Research Associates, in a report. "The challenge for China's government will be to manage the withdrawal of the stimulus without scaring the markets or pulling the rug out from under the recovery."

The Shanghai composite edged higher on the GDP news, though that followed a 2.9% sell-off on fears of lending curbs due to rapid growth.

Commodities and commodity-related stocks worldwide continued to retreat.

Obama has been in decline for months.

Then Unemployment hit double digits.
Then NJ elected a Republican to replace Corzine.
Then MA elected a Republican to replace Ted Kennedy.
Then Health care imploded.
Then the Supreme Court struck down McCain-Feingold.
Then the stock market started tanking after Obama declared war on banks.

The commercial real estate crash is just around the corner.

The slide began a long time ago, and it will continue for about another 3 years.







Revenge Isn’t An Economic Policy
By Ed Carson

After spending his capital on health care and climate change as unemployment soared, President Obama sees political gold in bashing Wall Street to satisfy (often understandable) public anger.

The policy merits of Obama's proposals — a “TARP tax,” restricting the size of activities of big financials — are debatable. Experts a lot smarter than this writer support and oppose them.

But the starkly political motivation, fueled by and fueling populist rage, has unnerved Wall Street. It’s creating a hostile and uncertain climate for investors and lenders. Reports that the Senate may not have the votes to confirm Ben Bernanke to a second term before his current term expires Jan. 31 don’t help.

The S&P 500 sold off 2.2% on Friday — 5.1% over the last three days.

This bank-bashing strategy may ultimately backfire. The major averages now are all down for the year and appear to be in a correction. That could hurt consumer spending, and hinder a still-fragile economic recovery. If unemployment remains high, voters likely will still punish the party in power.

As Jason Trennert of Strategas wrote in his daily note this morning: “(T)here is the potential for the nation’s economic policy to focus on finding scapegoats rather than on finding long-term solutions to its problems.”

You think?

Update: Tony Crescenzi, strategist and portfolio manager at Pimco, said in a note regarding Bernanke's confirmation: “It would not be wise for Congress to politicize the institution vital to maintaining the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar. If it does, and if fiscal profligacy continues, U.S. financial assets in general could be put under downward pressure.”

louyah analyst report for those still in the dark room or having 'shock' time

Stocks Careen As Correction Takes Hold

Friday's plunge worsened the stock market's condition, leaving little doubt it is in a correction.

The Nasdaq fell 2.7%, the S&P 500 2.2%, the Dow 2.1% and the NYSE composite 2%. All four indexes closed under their 50-day moving average.

Volume was down across the board Friday, but that didn't prevent a number of leading stocks from suffering damage.

Many leading stocks had already come under selling, while distribution days piled up. All that added up to a bearish picture for stocks.

For the second time since the March uptrend began, Market has shifted to "correction." Three rounds of bad news on three separate days were too much for the market to bear.

On Wednesday, reports said China was curbing bank loans.

On Thursday, President Obama called for limiting the investment choices and size of banks.

On Friday, two Democratic senators declared they would oppose the reappointment of Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke. His term expires Jan. 31.

It was clear to the Street that none of these moves — if they stick — would help stocks.

The NYSE composite fell 4.4% for the week, the Dow 4.1%, the S&P 500 3.9% and the Nasdaq 3.6%.

The last time the Market switched to correction was Oct. 27. That lasted about a week before the uptrend resumed. That's no assurance that the market is in for another brief pullback.

History's seven nastiest bear markets show a pattern to the bear-killing uptrends.

Each had a rebound of 51% to 101%. (The Nasdaq's 2009 rebound was 83%.) Each then corrected 10% to 39% before starting a second leg to the uptrend.

This uptrend hasn't corrected significantly yet. And if the puts vs. calls indicator is right, it won't now. This contrarian indicator turned bullish on Friday as it passed the 1.0 mark.

Four times it has signaled a short-term bottom since July, and each time the Nasdaq has turned up. The indicator, though, doesn't always nail the lows.

What should the investor do under these circumstances?

With the market in correction, avoid buying any stocks. If you lightened holdings when the market came under pressure Wednesday or sold stocks that fell 8% below your purchase price, then you should have some cash on the sidelines.

There is no reason to risk that money. Your remaining positions should be watched carefully.

You may have noticed that distribution days aren't listed in today's Market. That's deliberate.

Investors now should be looking for a follow-through day that confirms an uptrend is under way. That's a decisive percentage gain in a major index on Day 4 or later of an attempted rally.

Is China Really Growing That Fast?

Competitiveness: A spate of new reports show China leapfrogging other nations on its way to economic superpower status. Time to concede the global economic lead to the world's most populous nation? Hardly.

The news these days is filled with Chinese triumphalism. The indispensable Drudge Report did us all a favor by collecting a number of very recent headlines about China's soaring, seemingly unstoppable, economy. Among them:

• "China Ends U.S.'s Reign as Largest Auto Market" (Bloomberg).

• "China Becomes Biggest Exporter, Edging Out Germany" (Associated Press).

• "China Banks Eclipse U.S. Rivals" (Financial Times of London).

To top it off, Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Fogel predicted early in the new year that China's economy alone would hit $123 trillion in 2040, three times what the entire world produced in 2000 and more than twice the world's current output. Per-capita income will be $85,000, more than triple that in the European Union.

Such news is sure to spark a new round of hand-wringing in the U.S. It's only in a matter of time, they will tell us, that China will be top dog — and the U.S. just an economic pup by comparison.

With reported average GDP growth of 10% (even last year, during a global financial crisis, China reportedly grew at an 8% pace and is predicted to grow 9.5% this year), that's a real possibility. Ten percent growth leads to a doubling of the economy in just seven years. At 2.5%, where the U.S. is now, it takes about 29 years.

So China's total GDP of $5 trillion will soon overtake our $14 trillion, right? Not so fast.

First, let's ask the question that economists often ask but is all but ignored in the media: Can China's data be trusted? Many economists believe the answer is no. In fact, no one knows for sure what China's GDP is. The communist government simply announces it — there is virtually no transparency.

These problems go way back. In 1992, China finally stopped using economic accounting methods it learned from the USSR — methods that led to consistent overestimates of Chinese growth.

Yet problems remained. In a 2001 study, economist Thomas Rawski of the University of Pittsburgh declared that "recent growth claims defy economic logic and clash with a broad array of credible information from Chinese resources ..."

Last year, Derek Scissors, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, likewise critiqued China's economic record-keeping — and asserted China's current economic model of high growth based on forced lending by the government is unsustainable.

"In the past, the People's Bank would report loan growth in the 15% range, supporting better-than-10% GDP growth," he wrote. Last year, China's lending surged by a third, thanks to its own $590 billion "stimulus" package. But growth was just 8%.

Sound familiar? In the late 1980s, Japan was set to own the world based on its vast expansion of lending and exports. Some see a similar Chinese bubble in the making — one that would dwarf the financial tsunami that hit Western economies after 2007.

This is not to say China's economy is not growing. It is. It's just not growing as fast as its officials say.

But the real question is — how well do individuals do in China in terms of output? Even using questionable current data and despite decades of rapid growth, the results aren't so impressive.

Per-capita GDP in China isn't even $2,500 a year, in real dollars (see chart). In the U.S., it's $42,000 a year. In short, it'll be decades, if ever, before China closes that gap.

1) You have to understand the position that economists and analysts are in. They work for corporations, insurance, Wall Street, banking and government and if they thought we were in a depression and they publicly announced that all chances for advancement would be lost or they would be squeezed out of the firm or simply fired.

Senate Democrats on Wednesday proposed allowing the federal government to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion to pay its bills, a record increase that would permit the national debt to reach $14.3 trillion.

The unpopular legislation is needed to allow the federal government to issue bonds to fund programs and prevent a first-time default on obligations. It promises to be a challenging debate for Democrats, who, as the party in power, hold the responsibility for passing the legislation.

A 1.2% decline in light truck prices pulled core lower. Consumer prices, an actual cost to consumers unlike an accounting entry like light trucks, increased 0.3%. Food prices jumped 1.6%.

But inflation in the pipeline jumped. Intermediate goods prices (both headline & core) rose 0.5%. Crude prices jumped 1.0% headline and 5.0% core in surging commodity prices.

Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, said the U.S. should inject a second round of stimulus spending into the economy to avert a “double-dip” recession.

It will be “2012 or 2013 at the earliest that we will be back to normality,” Stiglitz said in an interview today on Bloomberg Television. “This is a scenario that is putting us a little better but not much better than the Japanese malaise.”

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article16746.html

2) Fed tipped to hold its course as clock runs on stimulus

The US Federal Reserve is expected to signal a steady policy course at its upcoming meeting, in an effort to keep a fragile economic recovery on track, analysts say.

The central bank opens a two-day policy meeting Tuesday that could be overshadowed by the drama surrounding Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's reappointment to a second term.

Many economists believe the Fed will keep the ultralow rates into the second half of 2010, or possibly into 2011.

But questions remain on the Fed's plans to wind down a series of special programs aimed at pumping more than one trillion dollars into the financial system, initiatives set to expire in the coming months.

Sohn said he has concerns about what will happen to the mortgage market and the overall economy if the Fed holds to its schedule of ending purchases of mortgage-backed securities at the end of March.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CN...&show_article=1

3) shorts ratio r increasing whilst investment advisors r stil 50% bullish, wat does it means? no idea leh



4) SPECIAL - "How To Spot Market Tops"

"How To Spot Market Tops" - When the "big boys" (institutional investors like mutual funds, banks, pension funds, insurance companies, etc) head for the exits, you need to as well.

They control an estimated 80% of the price action of the US stock market, so it pays to know what they are doing. Since they are so big, they leave tracks behind. By keeping a close watch on the markets you can step aside and not have to "ride" the markets down during their "gut-wrenching" declines of 15%, 25%, 50% and more.

The best way to gauge if the institutional players are exiting the market is to watch what for we call "distribution days." Simply, this is when one of the major indexes ( the NASDAQ, S&P 500, Dow Industrials, NYSE Composite) is down more than .2% on heavier volume than the previous session.

Not all indexes have to fall at the same time. If only one of the gauges suffers heavy distribution that still can signal trouble ahead.

When the market racks up four of five of these in a few weeks time, chances are the rally is in trouble and the market may reverse lower.

Below is a chart of the NASDAQ in 2000 as it peaked on March 10th and then started it's massive decline. The first day of heavy distribution came 3 sessions prior to the peak. The index fell for several sessions putting in another distribution day, then tried to rally back.

That rally stalled in late March and then the NASDAQ racked-up three days of heavy distribution in a row. A definite signal to exit the markets. The index also sliced through it's 50 day moving average on heavy volume, another major sell signal.

The NASDAQ put in a total of 9 distribution days in a month's time. During all this, scores of market "pundits" were telling investors to "buy the dips." Many individuals who did not heed the real warning signs lost a lot of money and those who stayed on margin were most likely wiped out. This ended up being one of the biggest collapses in Wall St. history.

Don't panic if the market flashes a few distribution days from time to time. The market can't go higher without taking an occasional breather now and then. It's when they pile up in a very short time that you need to worry.

Also, not every distribution day should cause you concern. Higher volume selling after a holiday usually means that more people are now back after a quiet pre-holiday period.

"Churning" near the top is also a sign of distribution. This is when the market is not advancing near the top but the volume is brisk. This means that there is a lot of institutional trading going on, but the buyers' demand is not strong enough to push prices up.

When you see heavy distribution in the markets you must act quickly. If you are on margin, get off! Sell your weaker acting stocks. If selling persists, raise cash to protect your hard earned assets. Don't listen to the experts, listen to the markets.



[QUOTE]

Ambition: climbing over others to make it; Passion: arriving while everyone enjoyed the climb

This post has been edited by sulifeisgreat: Jan 25 2010, 06:55 PM

Seriously, in every measure, we are in for some tough times. The seesawing between deflation and inflation alone, much less figuring out which sectors of the economy each is occuring in and how it affects the overall picture is quite a chore!

Just know....sometime in the not too distannt future, the S willHTF and you had better be prepared. The Baltic Dry Index is just one of many indicators of trouble ahead.
Lots of new cargo ships will be completed, floated, and put into service in 2010.

Each of the new cargo ships will be larger than the average size of exsting cargo ships built prior to this year.

Almost all of the existing cargo ships will continue to remain in service.

Thus, lots of cargo ships.

Of course, global shipping is below its 2006 peak.

So, lots of cargo ships with much less cargo to be shipped.

Will transportation rates (and profits) go up or down?

Too much shipping capacity.

Too many ships.

You have to order ships many, many years in advance and shipping companies did so expecting a normal rate of growth in the shipping business.

Since the economy has tanked, shipping needs have cratered but the previously ordered new ships are still coming, even though they're not needed...and, worse, they still have to be paid for.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/184318-tro...altic-dry-index

read the fine print, market is stalling or churning, for those of u who read books, OTHER than buffet / kiyosaki / peter lynch / FA category
it could be a sign of monies shifting from strong hands to weak / sheep hands
churning means high volume but indexes no movement, pls google up if interested no garanti, if suddenly all bright & sunny instead
taking 'siri' as an example, dunno about its FA, but lyn forumers wil average down from $80 until 1 cent izit? excellent! keep it up

Stocks Fall In Seesaw Session

5:15 p.m. Update: Stocks bounced around but ended lower after a late-session sell-off Tuesday.

The NYSE composite dropped 0.6%. The S&P 500 trimmed off 0.4%. The Dow eased only a fraction, as gains in Travelers Cos. (TRV) and McDonald's (MCD) cushioned losses in other components.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq fell 0.3%. The tech-heavy index came within less than a point of retaking its 50-day moving average, but then faltered. All major indexes hit new lows for the month.

Volume climbed on both exchanges.

Chinese stocks were among the hardest hit.

Stocks End Lower After Late Sell-Off

4:15 p.m. Update: U.S. stocks closed lower Tuesday after a rally fizzled late in the session.

The NYSE composite shed 0.6%, the S&P 500 0.4% and the Nasdaq 0.3%. Meanwhile, the Dow eased a fraction. Volume climbed on both major exchanges.

Steel producers, computer peripheral makers and select retailers were among the worst industries. Hospital operators, computer makers and newspaper publishers were the day's top sectors.