



A CNBC reporter since 1990, Bob Pisani has reported on Wall Street and the stock market from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for nearly a decade. Pisani covered the real estate market for CNBC from 1990-1995, then moved on to cover corporate management issues before moving to the New York Stock Exchange in 1997.
He was nominated twice for a CableACE Award, in 1993 and 1995.
Prior to joining CNBC, Pisani co-authored Investing in Land: How to be a Successful Developer. He and his father taught a course in Real Estate Development at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennyslvania from 1987-1992. Pisani learned the real estate business from his father, Ralph Pisani, a retired real estate developer.
Publications:
Three points about today’s trading: 1) financials again down on weak earnings from European banks; 2) Bulls hoping that strengthening dollar would lead to a decline in commodity prices are again having a hard time; and 3) All those people arguing that the EDS/Hewlett deal would be a big challenge to IBM are missing the point.
Stronger retail sales than expected (ex-auto up 0.5 percent, the best showing since November) has caused an 8-point pop in futures. Elsewhere: 1) Hewlett-Packard's $12.6 b deal for Electronic Data systems ($25.00 a share) is a direct challenge to IBM.
I have today --Monday--off from work, but I'll be back with more posts tomorrow. See you then.
Risk aversion is definitely back today. You can see it in the dollar/yen, where the yen has really strengthened today. The AIG news (down 8 percent) told us that a lot of the bad news is still not priced in. Big momentum stocks like Visa, Mastercard, Nucor, US Steel, Anadarko, Apache, Bidu, Apple, and Google all saw profit-taking today. But here's the big problem: oil closing up five straight days, closing at a new high.
The AIG damage is limited, and that is good news: other P&C insurers are not showing any serious declines; financials in modest rally; the VIX is already dropping. The biggest factor: the Citi conference call, with Pandit and CFO Crittenden, appears to have gone well. Here are a few headlines...
Asian and European markets, as well as U.S. futures, weaker on the AIG news. Dollar stronger. For the moment, the risk aversion trade (long bonds, short financials) is back on. Oil at new high not helping. Also: Circuit City is allowing Blockbuster and Carl Icahn to conduct due diligence.