Hey, the Dow is above 11,000 as I type! Happy Friday!
The Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed above 11000 for the first time since early May, as the prospect of further action by the Federal Reserve overshadowed a grim jobs report.
The Dow was recently up 55 points, or 0.5%, to 11003, trading above 11000 for the first time since May 3, just days before the "flash crash."
First out of the earnings gate last night? Alcoa! The stock is up over 6% (as I type).
The New York-based metals giant on Thursday said lower aluminum prices and a stronger dollar hurt third-quarter earnings, though Wall Street was expecting a bigger hit and seemed to focus on the rosier forecast.
Alcoa raised its forecast for 2010 global aluminum demand to 13% from 12% as emerging markets have shown that “more and more people are moving into the middle class, driving demand in building and construction, transportation and packaging.”
So, we have a positive reaction to earnings. The “rosier forecast” is much more important than the numbers from the past. If this is an indication of what’s coming for other companies, maybe everyone expecting an October crash will be leaning the wrong way.
Bank of America is halting all foreclosure sales.
Bank of America Corp. said it is placing a moratorium on all foreclosure sales across the U.S., amid political pressure on U.S. banks to examine foreclosure-documentation problems.
The nation's largest bank by assets is the first financial institution to stop all foreclosure sales amid revelations that the banking industry had used "robo signers," people who sign hundreds of documents a day without reviewing their contents, when foreclosing on homes. Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Ally Financial Inc. (parent of GMAC Mortgage) last week postponed foreclosures in 23 states where a court's approval is required to foreclosure on a home.
Robo signers. Imagine the job ad for that. “Major US bank seeking hard-working individuals who are willing to sign documents without reviewing their contents.”
Meanwhile, the EPA is trying to reduce global temperatures. Their current plan would reduce temperatures by .006 of a degree Celsius. Over the next 90 years. Sweet!
Hey, that global warming scheme sounds like a good trade, huh?
The EPA’s plan to administratively do what even the left-leaning Democrat-controlled Congress wouldn’t do would, according to none other than the EPA, would reduce the global temperature over the next 90 years by this much:
0.006 of a degree Celsius
At most. It might be only 0.0015.
Don’t you feel cooler already?
Oh, the cost is tons of jobs. But as long as you can live with higher unemployment and higher costs, the EPA is heading on the right track. (There may be a smidge of sarcasm in that last sentence. Just a smidge).
TGIF, Salma Hayek.
