THE MARKET GOES UP AND GOES DOWN BUT JUST KEEPS MOVING AHEAD:

Dow Hits New Record (David Bogoslaw, 10/01/07, Business Week)

On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average swept through the previous 14,000 record threshold, and through 14,100 before slipping back to trade 201.51 points, or 1.45%, higher at 14,097.14. The broader S&P 500 index rose 20.43 points, or 1.34%, to 1,547.27. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 39.59 points, or 1.47%, to 2,740.69, a six-and-a-half-year high. [...]

Optimism was stoked by Citigroup's saying that it sees continued growth in consumer loans and doesn't expect a consumer-led recession to result from the upheaval in the credit markets. Also, former Fed chief Alan Greenspan, in his capacity as a paid consultant by Pimco and Deutsche Bank, said the financial crisis may be nearly finished, noting positive signs such as lenders showing interest in longer term, lower quality assets in recent days, according to Action Economics.

Even Citigroup's projection of a 60% decline in third-quarter profits from a year ago, due to dislocations in the mortgage-backed securities and credit markets, and deterioration in the consumer credit environment, was greeted with a sense of relief by the markets that at least most of the bad news was being laid out on the table.

Crude Awakening: Fundamentals Don't Support High Price (Steve Schaefer, 10.01.07, Forbes)

Oil prices were slipping Monday as it appeared that market fundamentals may not support the commodity’s rising price on Wall Street.

After hitting a record high $83.90 per barrel in September, and topping $83.00 as recently as last week, crude prices appear to be eroding. The weakening dollar, inclement weather in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, supply issues, and concerns over Iran all contributed to soaring oil prices in September, but the $20 per barrel rise with just a 1.3% drop in inventory from the same period in 2006, has many predicting oil will not maintain the highs reached during its recent rally.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 1, 2007 4:28 PM