The Stock Market continued its downward progress after six weeks of an upward climb causing investors to speculate on what to expect in the coming days.
Despite the fact that Bank of America posted large profits for the first quarter of 2009, declaring net income triple its previous quarter, there was an overall 23% slide in their stocks value. The acquisition of Merrill Lynch added more than 3 billion dollars to its bottom line, but due to net charge-offs rising and huge credit card business losses the overall picture for B of A was not positive.
Commenting on the latest market swing Harry Rady of Rady Asset Management declared:
“The bank earnings so far just seem to be smoke and mirrors and the other companies aren’t reporting quality earnings. It’s just reducing expenses and dipping into reserves.”
For a more in depth discussion please follow the link to the full article: ‘US Stocks Lower As Banking Concerns Lead To Broad Sell-Off.’
A general downturn in small capitalization stocks was posted last Monday, April 21st, 2009. In addition to smaller, regional banks crude oil prices, metals such as copper, and energy, and materials stocks all helped contribute to the reversal of what had been a six-week steady improvement in stock market results.