Gotta Love Wednesday

No slump for this mid-week trading day. GDP numbers looked solid, despite the continued slowdown in housing. Yes, there is a decline in the number of homes sold, and the median sales price is down 3%, but this is after tremendous gains in real estate over the last few years. We can give back a little and still have a good market. Sellers are finally coming down to earth, and this is being reflected in the numbers. With lower sales prices have come more interested buyers. It looks less like a burst bubble and more like a correction. GM announced plans to concentrate on hybrid cars. The announcement came with much pomp and ceremony... and a few hecklers. Finally, GM is responding to demand, but don't expect to see these cars on the lot for several years. See the heckling incident on CNN video. The sponsor for the piece? Honda! (They are years ahead of GM on that hybrid thing.) Markets had a nice bounce today. Ben who? Dow +90.28 NASDAQ +19.62 S&P 500 +12.76

Relief from Yesterday

The Dow started the morning off a little rocky, but stocks recovered, thanks to blue-chips. Exxon closed up 2.3% as oil prices settled at $61 per barrel, and Disney climbed 1%. Apple and Cisco helped the Nasdaq climb more than six points.

The housing market saw a record drop in prices last month. Bad for sellers, good for buyers. Analysts predict the weakness in housing prices to continue through the end of this year, lightening up at the beginning of 2007. My "For Sale" sign is staying in the garage.

DJIA: +14.74 Nasdaq: +6.69 S&P 500: +4.82

Post Holiday "Ouch"

My husband and I ventured into Wal Mart around 8:45 on Black Friday. Originally, he thought about trying the 5 am thing but changed his mind. He had an eye on some televisions, you know flat screen LCD, HDTV. Don't ask me! I can't tell the difference. By the time we arrived, the parking lot was practically empty. We wondered, "Where are the crowds?" Was the rush over, or was the rush nonexistent? We ambled into the electronics section to find plenty of empty shelves. We ended up buying a strand of lights and left the store. I couldn't believe how calm things were in the store. Had the swarm moved to more fertile ground? Wal Mart tallied the weekend numbers and reported bad news. It didn't look like a good start to the holiday retail season. Wall Street ran for cover, on the news. All indexes were off drastically, with the NASDAQ dropping over 2%. While I had observed the fall off in our Wal Mart, I didn't necessarily think it bad news for everyone. I plan to do a lot of shopping online this year, and I'm less inclined to fight the rush. It will be January before we know for sure, but I'm not crying "Scrooge" yet! Dow -139.24 NASDAQ -54.34 S&P 500 -19.01

Turkey Makes Me Sleepy

Its true - turkey makes me sleepy. Or maybe its all the food that goes along with the turkey. Nonetheless, I'm typically very lazy on Thanksgiving. I like to blame it on the turkey.

Traders acted today like they had already eaten turkey. Trading was very slow, as investors weighed news and the upcoming shopping extravaganza (on Friday). GM didn't help much, with their third day in a row of a decline. Worried about their largest investor, Kirk Kerkorian, GM announced plans to drop a new line of minivans. As it turns out, Kerkorian is swapping some of his GM stock for MGM Mirage, up 10%. And Dell reported a third-quarter profit of 12%, which was higher than expectations.

Look for a short day Friday; the market is open only half the day. Enjoy the holiday, and watch out for the turkey - it encourages naps!

DJIA: +5.36 Nasdaq: +11.14 S&P 500: +3.29

Google Gold

Economists predict a profitable shopping season this year. The Dow got a boost today as traders weighed oil costs against predictions of the upcoming shopping season. Boeing also contributed to the Dow's good fortune as it jumped 2.2%. Google topped $500 for the first time, sending the tech-heavy Nasdaq up more than 2 points. This record closing price for the search-engine giant is up 408% from the closing price of Google's first day of trading! DJIA: +5.05 Nasdaq: +2.12 S&P 500: +2.31