Stocks end mixed amid relative calm
NEW YORK – Wall Street ended a tumultuous two-week run relatively quietly Friday, finishing another back-and-forth session mixed as investors were cheered by signs of easing in the credit markets and managed to absorb lackluster economic news with equanimity. But while there was less volatility than during recent sessions, analysts warned that the market still faces rough times.
The expiration of options contracts helped tug stocks in different directions. Still, the Dow Jones industrial average traded within a narrower range than it had in much of the past two weeks and ended down 127. The market’s big rallies on Monday and Thursday gave all the major indexes gains of well over 3 percent for the week – but that was just a partial recovery from the devastating double-digit drops of the previous week.
“The stock market has finally realized one thing – that the governments around the world have thrown in a lot of money and they’re using all the tools that they possibly can” to restore order to the credit markets, said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners Inc., a New York brokerage house. “I’m sure we’ll still have a strong bear grip to the market but I do believe the market was way oversold. I do believe we’ve made a bottom.”
In recoveries from past market plunges, trading has remained volatile even after the major indexes reached their lows, so it is widely expected that Wall Street will ratchet higher and lower for some time. And, it is not yet clear that the market has actually touched bottom.
“Everything is ugly. It’s going to stay this way for a while,” Cardillo said.
The loosening of credit markets – which follows a series of moves by governments around the world – appeared to draw most of investors’ attention. The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, for three-month dollar loans fell to 4.41 percent from 4.50 percent on Thursday, the fifth consecutive day of declines.
Demand remains high for Treasury bills, regarded as the safest assets around, an indication that there is uncertainty lingering in the markets. The three-month Treasury bill Friday yielded 0.81 percent, up from 0.47 percent on Thursday. That indicates a let-up in demand, though the yield has not surpassed 1 percent in more than a week.
It was an erratic week on Wall Street, with the Dow soaring 936 points on Monday, slipping moderately Tuesday, sinking 733 points Wednesday, and then rallying 401 Thursday. The volatility is not providing investors with much relief, but it is a welcome change from last week’s relentless plunge, during which the Dow logged its worst week ever and Wall Street lost about $2.4 trillion in shareholder wealth.
For the week, the Dow rose 4.75 percent, the S&P 500 added 4.6 percent, while the Nasdaq rose 3.75 percent. But the gains follow the previous week’s huge losses, when the Dow dropped 18.2 percent, the S&P 500 fell 15.3 percent and the Nasdaq lost 15.3 percent.