Markets Declined Last Week, Looking Better Heading Toward Christmas

Weekly Wrap Up

Last week, the markets couldn’t hold on to the decent start and slid lower on the latter part of the week. The major indices were down: The DOW lost -142.60 points, the NYSE was down -38.93 points, and the S&P 500 slid -3.94. The only major index to buck the trend was the NASDAQ — it went up 21.38 points. The markets started its downward trend on Wednesday with weak jobs data and weakness in the financial sector, and again on Thursday led by Materials and Financials. The downward momentum halted on Friday led by Tech stocks rally that helped break the trend.

Major news for the week was about TARP fund repayment by Citibank (C: Charts, News, Offers) and Wells Fargo (WFC: Charts, News, Offers). These banks received approval from the Fed to repay the aid totaling $45 billion. The Treasury was quick to point out these as examples of success and how TARP helped the economy and was beneficial to taxpayers. Another big news from the Financial sector was Bank of America (BAC: Charts, News, Offers); it found someone to replace the departing CEO Ken Lewis — but the incoming CEO Brian Moynihad appears to be relatively unknown figure.

There were also a lot of interesting news from the Technology front. The most fascinating being Google’s (GOOG: Charts, News, Offers) plan to gobble up another successful web property, Yelp. How long will it take before we start associating Google with a monopoly and hearing about anti-trust lawsuits? More Market News

Economic News

Panel Backs Bernanke for Second Term
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke cleared the first hurdle on his way to another four-year term. The Senate Banking Committee voted 16-7 to give Bernanke a second-term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. (source: NY Times) Click here to read the full article

Treasury halts plan to sell off Citi Stock
The US government has put on hold its plans to start unloading its 34% stake in Citigroup (C: Charts, News, Offers). Apparently, investors were not willing to pay the price of $3.25 per share of the Citigroup shares that the government was seeking. (source: The Wall Street Journal) Click here to read the full article

Leading Indicators Rise Again
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the United States increased 0.9 percent in November, the eighth consecutive month of growth. (source: NPR) Click here to read the full article

Greenspan Warns of Doom on Debt
Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chief, warned today on the risks US social programs pose to the US’s ability to finance its deficits. (source: Financial Times) Click here to read the full article

Business News

What Users Are Saying About Yelp Being Eaten by Google
Google (GOOG: Charts, News, Offers) continues its march toward total web domination with its plan to purchase Yelp for 1/3 stake in YouTube, or approximately $500 million. A good deal for Google and bad for Yelp? (source: Read Write Web) Click here to read the full article

B of A Names Moynihan CEO: The Man No One Knows
Bank of America (BAC: Charts, News, Offers) has named Brian Moynihan to replaced departing CEO Ken Lewis. Mr. Moynihan ( the man no one knows ) said that the bank has no plans to sell the private wealth management unit it purchased in 2006 for $3.3 billion. (source: Barron’s) Click here to read the full article

Bank of America to Loan An Additional $5B to Small Businesses By 2010
Bank of America (BAC: Charts, News, Offers) Chief Executive Ken Lewis pledged to loan an additional $5 billion to small businesses in 2010. This statement followed a meeting between President Obama and several executives from the largest U.S. banks. (source: Wall Street Pit) Click here to read the full article

FDIC will increase budget by $1.4B, hire hundreds
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is boosting its budget by 55 percent and will increase its work force by 23 percent as it struggles to keep up with bank closings. The agency released a $4 billion operating budget, of which $2.5 billion is to be used to fund the takeover of failed banks. The 2009 operating budget was $2.6 billion. (source: Kansas City Business Journal) Click here to read the full article

Where to Invest Your Money
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