Chuck has been detained, so I’ll make a few notes here. We all know he gives much more colorful wrap-ups and I’m sure he will post regarding today’s action as soon as possible.
The market reaction today was a continuing vote of no-confidence. The XLF (financials) rose to the trendline and pulled back hard. The futures overnight are dropping and the dollar is up a little at 75.26. S&P has stated that they expect more losses from some large European banks. According to a report by Bloomberg, S&P has lowered or may cut ratings on $534 Billion of residential mortgage securities and collateralized debt obligations.
I’m a little more worried about our own financial institutions. Here’s a link you may find interesting, and I’m still researching the full implications of this: http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h3/Current/ and this: http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/2008/fil08002.html
According to ICI (Investment Company Institute) US Muni Bond funds saw December net outflows of $3.48 Billion compared to November outflow of $1.12 Billion.
I know some of you hold this stock, so I’m posting their earnings. Altria Group (MO) reported earnings for Q4 of $1.00/share vs $0.97 est., revenues were $9.3B vs $9.19B est. They announced they will spin-off an international unit by 3/28/08, and there will be a $7.5B post-spin off buyback program over the next two years. The post spin-off dividend is to be $1.16/share annually.
More later.
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