Sunday, October 24, 2004

Market Week in Review

S&P 500 1,095.74 -1.12%

Click here for the Weekly Wrap by Briefing.com.

Bottom Line: Market action last week was mixed as HMO and telecom stocks led the S&P 500 and DJIA lower, while software and semiconductor shares boosted the NASDAQ. Last week was not good for the Bulls, however declines were relatively muted considering energy's continuing rise, a tightening of the Presidential polls, mixed earnings reports and steep declines in the HMO sector. Once again, Democratic NY Attorney General Spitzer's widening insurance probe resulted in major losses for unknowing investors and will undoubtedly lead to future job losses in the HMO industry. As I have stated before, executives should be held more personally liable for any illegal actions and the companies themselves less liable, to minimize job losses and investor pain. It is extremely unfair and is a significant burden on the U.S. economy to punish so many innocent people for the actions of a few rogue executives. On the positive side, interest rates fell again, most commodity prices stabilized, technology/small-caps stocks outperformed and the advance/decline line only fell modestly. Measures of investor anxiety were mixed on the week.

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