Battered Markets Crawl Into 2009

Rallies continue off of big Federal Reserve rate slash

(NEWSER) - Wall Street kept the party going today, as the Federal Reserve’s half-point rate cut kept pushing stocks up. Financials even shrugged off disappointing earnings from Morgan Stanley, which posted a more-than-expected 17% drop in net income for the quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dow rose 58.04 points in early trading, with the S&P gaining 9.97 and the Nasdaq up 19.03. More»

Exchange differences exacerbated plunge

(NEWSER) - As markets open today, the cause of last week's trading chaos remains unclear, but investigators believe mismatches in rules between the NYSE and newer electronic exchanges, combined with fast, complex computer trading systems, triggered the panic. The sudden drop of a futures contract on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange appears to have pushed down other stocks, triggering some market "circuit breakers" to slow trades. But because the exchanges didn't slow together transactions couldn't match the precipitous plunge. More»

(NEWSER) - Traders using high-speed computers are making billions of dollars and leaving the rest of the stock market in the dust, the New York Times reports. "High-frequency" traders, who use algorithms to make millions of trades in microseconds, have helped big banks and hedge funds bounce back quickly, but critics say the rise of the robots is threatening market integrity. More»

(NEWSER) - Markets were up today on a successful sale of 30-year Treasury notes and other indicators of economic recovery, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bank of America saw a 9% upswing after its CEO testified on Capitol Hill. The Dow gained 31.90 to 8,770.92. The S&P rose 5.74 to 944.89. And the Nasdaq tacked on 9.29 to finish at 1,862.37. More»

(NEWSER) - The market was level today as financials awaited notice of which companies would be allowed to pay back TARP funds, the Wall Street Journal reports. The good news contrasted with a drop-off in commodities and a poor performance by Apple, which announced new iPhones, laptops, and operating systems. The Dow added 1.44 to 8,764.57. The S&P sank 0.96 to 939.13. And the Nasdaq lost 7.02 to end at 1,842.40. More»