The markets are trading in the red today, being pulled down by investor concern over the most recent data regarding the housing market. According to the Commerce Department this morning, September sales of new homes dropped by 3.6%. September's annual rate was 402,000 units, which was below the expected 440,000 annual units. The average price for a new home was also lower, falling 9.1 percent on a year-over-year basis to $204,800. On ...

We saw some profit taking yesterday in the aftermath of the strong run the markets posted on Monday, but we got back on track today with some more positive gains for the major indexes. The DOW closed the day up 1.2%, while the NASDAQ put up a gain of 0.8% for the session. Helping the market out today was news that new home sales in February jumped by 4.7%. While the current ...

After yesterday's rally, and President Obama's speech last night, it would have been nice to see another strong day for the market, but that was not the case as sellers came back in and sent all the major markets lower in today's trading. As we know, the housing market has been a major drain on the overall economy, and the real estate market got some more bad news today as we ...

Friday was another sell off for the market, as investors continue to show fear ahead of a plan out of Washington on how to reverse the current recession that seems to be deepening with each passing day. The DOW was down 1.04% today, the NASDAQ traded 0.5% lower, and the S&P dropped another 1.0% in today's trading. For the week, the DOW dropped a total of 5.2%, and is sitting at lows ...

Shares of Home Depot (NYSE: HD) are getting nailed this morning following a weak first quarter earnings report from the home improvement retailer. Going into this morning's earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see the Atlanta based retailer to post earnings of 37 cents per share, but the company disappointed those expectations, with actual earnings of only 21 cents a share, on net income of $356 million. Sales dropped 3.4% ...

This morning we were seeing the markets in the red, but they were given a bit of relief following Fed Chaiman Ben Bernanke's testimony to Congress today. Ironically, it was Bernanke himself that had initially put the markets into the red when he stated that there was a decent chance that the U.S. economy would contract during the first half of this year. With all the recession rumors and fears floating ...

Consumer confidence has fallen to levels that we have not seen for nearly 35 years. According to the Confidence Board, consumer confidence in March has dropped to 64.5, a level not seen since the Nixon administration. There are three main factors contributing to the erosion of consumer confidence currently; falling stock prices, falling home values, and finally... the dollar setting record lows against the euro. It seems like everyday we turn ...

Ford Motor (NYSE: F), already troubled, is set to get off to a weak start this morning after the auto maker was downgraded this morning by broker Citigroup. The broker downgraded the stock this morning from a "hold" to a "sell" rating. Citigroup cited several reasons for the downgrade, and in addition lowered its price target on the stock from $7.00 down to $5.50. Here a few of the reasons for the ...

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has decided to state the obvious today... the U.S. economy is going through a tough time. Is this the same Bernanke that has been saying all year that the subprime mortgage crisis has been contained? Well, thanks for confirming what most of us already knew... record high oil prices and the severe housing slump are going to weigh on the American economy, and that an economic ...

After yesterday's market sell off, and a tough session for foreign exchanges, the U.S. market got a much needed boost of confidence this morning from a better than expected report on U.S. payrolls. According to the Labor Department this morning, American employers added twice as many new jobs as analysts had expected. Analysts had expected to see an increase of 85,000 payrolls during October, but the market was delighted to see ...