Another Bear Market Bounce, Or Bottoming?
Stocks rallied hard yesterday from oversold levels as newbie Treasury Secretary Tim “the enchanter” Geithner talked of the need for a “forceful” fiscal stimulus and action on a “dramatic scale” to strengthen banks. He also hinted that plans for a “bad bank” may be gaining traction. A round of executive bank share purchases from Jamie Dimon (550k shares) at J.P. Morgan (JPM) and embattled Ken Lewis at Bank of America (BAC) (200k shares) also helped to give better tone to financials and instill a bit of much needed confidence. But it may be just another dead bank bounce. Today’s Market Moving Stories • The once red hot Chinese economy grew by ONLY 6.8% in Q4 2008; its slowest pace for 7 years. • The sun is setting on Japanese exports which are reported down a massive 35% year on year, a record decline pointing to a further round of job and production cuts. Indeed Sony (SNE) has announced their intention to close a couple of TV factories and layoff 2k workers as they prepare to announce t
