How Market Played Out Today
By: Commodities were lower, but once again it was no help for stocks. Commodity stocks were again sold off.
Techs were weak as Marvell gave what was perceived to be negative comments at a tech conference, while display stocks were down notably after Corning cut its outlook and LG Display made cautious comments.
Home Depot'sCEO helped retailers by saying that we were "getting awfully close to the bottom" in housing, as did Kohls and JC Penney, who both reported August same store sales roughly in line with expectations. The rest of the retailers report sales tomorrow. JC Penney at a 3 month high, Kohls and Limitedat highs for the year. Why, if the consumer is weak? This trade is partly based on the oil trade, partly it's just on faith: investors are looking to buy some early cycle names (Home Depot, Lowe's). Also, there are still tons of shorts in retailers.
Lehman up for a sixth straight day on word that other suitors may be interested in acquiring a stake in the company.
Finally, the Beige Book was a bit blue, in general the Federal Reserve districts said that"
--economic growth was "Slow"
--there was upward price pressure and
--tighter lending standards.
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