USMarketView

March 17, 2008

The DJIA eked out a positive .18 percent gain, whereas the NASDAQ fell -1.61 percent and the S&P500 lost -.90 percent.

Comparing this result to the 76 times, since January 2000, that a pattern of DJIA up with the other two indices down, with the current changes, reveals that they are significantly below the previous medians.

The median decline of the NASDAQ is -1.03 percent; today’s
-1.61 percent loss is in about the 35^th percentile of the historical                             data.

The S&P500 record is worse: its median, only -.19 percent, indicates that Monday’s retreat of -.90 percent is almost four and a half times as large. Indeed there are just 18 days experiencing losses this deep.

The main overhang on today’s market was the liquidity problems of a major institution with a strong balance sheet; and the expectation that Tuesday will bring a substantial fall in the Fed’s fund rate.

DJIA .18 percent
NASDAQ - 1.61 percent
S&P500 -.90 percent

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 12 042008000000Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:05:02 +0000 and is filed under Market Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.