stock market commentary

Thursday, US equities rebounded slightly after the 236-point decline of the DJIA on Wednesday. Many oil stocks strengthened as crude oil futures soared back to 142 dollars a barrel on the heels of repeated missile tests by Iran.

Although the DJIA finished up 73 points on Thursday's half day of trading, it was a devastating day for market-leading stocks.

Even high-flying oil service stocks suffered severe corrections in spite of record-high oil prices—a fact that is difficult to interpret.

This past week was another challenging sequence of trading sessions for investors. Consumer confidence came in around 62, at its lowest level in 26 years, and the Royal Bank of Scotland suffered an 11 billion dollar writedown due to the US subprime mortgage crisis.

Monday major equity indices finished mixed, but this could also be viewed positively considering last week's stellar advances, and considering the surprise earnings shortfall reported by Bank of America before the market opened.

Recent market gyrations have been unsettling to say the least. Word of disappointing earnings from the major blue chip stock, GE, brought a 13% loss of its capitalization in one day and the negative effect spilled over into other market sectors.

In spite of many systemic problems encountered over the past weeks, our equity markets appear to have strengthened significantly.

Even most recent word on Friday of 80,000 jobs lost did not seem to dampen renewed enthusiasm for stocks.

This week has certainly been a roller-coaster ride for US equities. One day the DJIA is up 400 points, but the next it is down 200 points, and the next it is up 200 points again.

Thursday the DJIA finished up 261 points, but that may just portend another down day for Friday.

Friday was yet another tumultuous down day for stocks. The DJIA gave up 195 points and our Viable Acquisitions Index fell from 150 points to 123 points for Monday's open.

Thursday presented us with a wild ride on Wall Street. Initially the DJIA fell 234 points, and the Nasdaq Composite fell even more on a percentage basis, giving up all of the gains from the recent Fed intervention.

Then the DJIA climbed 339 points to a reading of +115.

Friday was yet another down day for US equities, with the DJIA losing 147 points. The S&P financial sector was down 6% for the week, and Friday's jobs report showed a one-month decline in US employment at a level not seen since 2003.