Market 360: The Best and Worst of the Week for US Equities, Commodities, Currencies, and More

Commodities:

• Gold for December delivery posted the biggest one day gain ever in dollar terms as it jumped up more than $90/ounce during intraday Wednesday, to close up $70 at $850.50/ounce, beating its previous single day record increase of $63/ounce set on 1/29/1980. Fears of more credit market turbulence led investors to flock to this safe-haven investment, which consequently rose 13.1% for the week.

• Silver for December delivery also soared $1.025/ounce to close at $12.7/ounce on Thursday on gold’s rally. Weakness in the US dollar prompted silver to be the top winner amongst metals for the week, up 15.56%.

• Crude Oil for October delivery traded up three consecutive days to settle on Friday at $104.55/barrel, finishing up 3% for the week. Higher prices this week were supported by tight supplies led by disruptions from Hurricane Ike over the past weekend. As of Thursday, 93% of the US oil production facilities remained shut in the Gulf of Mexico.

• Raw Sugar for March 09 delivery traded at intraday high levels of 14.31cents/lb on Thursday as investor’s short covering inspired buying in this soft commodity, gaining 10.4% for the week.
  **Talks of a Malaysian purchase of 2.7 million tons of bulk raw sugar on Thursday under a 3-year contract was believed to cause hedging against the Malaysian sugar deal.
  

Currencies: The U.S. dollar was weaker against most major currencies on Friday, as investors sought riskier trades in higher-yielding currencies, following the news that the U.S. government would spend several billion dollars in an effort to aid the battered financial sector.

• The dollar index fell 1.65% for the week, trading at 77.67 Friday, from 78.02 late Thursday. The dollar index was poised for its first weekly decline since the week ending August 23.
• As some European exchanges prohibited short selling of financial companies, many central banks stepped in on Thursday to infuse $180 billion dollars into money markets through currency-swap agreements. The euro strengthened 1.77% for the week, rising as high as $1.4538 per euro on Friday. During the afternoon trading session in New York, the euro was at $1.4466, from $1.4266 late Thursday.
• The pound sterling gained ground against the U.S. dollar, rising 2.31% for the week. The pound traded at $1.8356 Friday, from $1.8178 late Thursday. August retail sales data in the United Kingdom released on Thursday showed an unexpected increase. However, U.K. mortgage lending figures fell 12% in August, marking a 36% drop for the year. August public sector net borrowing in the United Kingdom jumped to 10.4 billion pounds, its highest increase for the month since 1993, according to Thompson Reuters data.
• The U.S. dollar strengthened 1.39% against the Japanese yen, its highest one-day percent increase since August 22 of this year. The U.S. dollar rose as high as 108.00 yen on Friday, from 105.42 yen late Thursday.
• The high-yielding Australian dollar jumped 3% on Friday, trading at $0.8315 per Aussie, while the New Zealand dollar appreciated 1.71% to $0.6883 per kiwi.
  

Market Stats:

• DOW
• The Dow ended down -33.55 or -0.29% for the week
• Friday, the Dow closed at 11,388.44, up 368.75 or 3.35%
• The Dow is Negative YTD down -14.15%
• The Dow is off by -2,776.09 or -19.60% from the market peak on October 9th of 14,164.53
• NASDAQ
• The NASDAQ ended up 12.63 or 0.56% for the week
• Friday, the NASDAQ Composite closed at 2,273.90, up 74.80 or 3.40%
• The NASDAQ is Negative YTD down -14.27%
• The NASDAQ is off by -585.22 or -20.47% from the market peak on October 31 of 2,859.12
• S&P 500
• The S&P 500 ended up 3.38 or 0.27% for the week
• Friday the S&P 500 closed at 1,255.08, up 48.57 or 4.03%
• The S&P is Negative YTD down -14.53%
• The S&P is off by -310.07 or -19.81% from the market peak on October 9th of 1,565.15

S&P Sector Performance for the week ending Friday, September 19, 2008:
S&P 500 Financials Sector (.GSPD) Up 20.94 or 7.41%
S&P 500 Energy Sector (.GSPM) Up 18.68 or 3.60%
S&P 500 Materials Sector (.GSPS) Up 3.04 or 1.30%
S&P 500 Information Technology Sector (.GSPF) Down -4.58 or -1.36%
S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Sector (.GSPT) Down -3.38 or -1.38%
S&P 500 Industrials Sector (.GSPHC) Down -4.43 or -1.46%
S&P 500 Health Care Sector (.GSPU) Down -9.42 or -2.52%
S&P 500 Consumer Staples Sector (.GSPE) Down -8.30 or -2.76%
S&P 500 Telecomm Services Sector (.GSPTS) Down -3.84 or -3.00%
S&P 500 Utilities Sector (.GSPI) Down -6.53 or -3.56%

S&P 10 Top Performers for the week ending Friday, September 19, 2008:
Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (MER) Up 12.45 or 73.02%
Regions Financial Corp (RF) Up 8.11 or 69.38%
Marshall & Ilsley Corp (MI) Up 11.34 or 62.44%
Washington Mutual Inc (WM) Up 1.52 or 55.68%
MGIC Investment Corp (MTG) Up 3.40 or 49.93%
Huntington Bancshares Inc (HBAN) Up 4.15 or 48.26%
SanDisk Corp (SNDK) Up 6.83 or 43.53%
Zions Bancorporation (ZION) Up 15.35 or 40.96%
Wachovia Corp (WB) Up 4.48 or 31.39%
The Chubb Corp (CB) Up 14.93 or 30.12%

S&P 10 Worst Performers for the week ending Friday, September 19, 2008:
American International Group Inc (AIG) Down -8.29 or -68.29%
Constellation Energy Group Inc (CEG) Down -32.61 or -55.87%
Morgan Stanley (MS) Down -10.02 or -26.91%
Office Depot Inc (ODP) Down -1.66 or -22.62%
General Growth Properties Inc (GGP) Down -6.13 or -22.25%
Ashland Inc (ASH) Down -7.11 or -18.47%
AK Steel Holding Corp (AKS) Down -7.15 or -18.21%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS) Down -24.41 or -15.83%
State Street Corp (STT) Down -11.25 or -15.69%
Precision Castparts Corp (PCP) Down -14.65 or -14.22%

Dow Top Performers for the week ending Friday, September 19, 2008:
Citigroup Inc (C) Up 2.69 or 14.98%
JPMorgan Chase and Co (JPM) Up 5.88 or 14.28%
Bank Of America Corp (BAC) Up 3.74 or 11.08%
Chevron Corp (CVX) Up 3.56 or 4.23%
American Express Co (AXP) Up 1.45 or 3.72%
3M Company (MMM) Up 2.53 or 3.61%
E I du Pont de Nemours and Co (DD) Up 1.65 or 3.56%
The Walt Disney Co (DIS) Up 1.13 or 3.40%
Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ) Up 1.29 or 2.75%
Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM) Up 2.11 or 2.72%

Dow Worst Performers for the week ending Friday, September 19, 2008:
American International Group Inc (AIG) Down -8.29 or -68.29%
Microsoft Corp (MSFT) Down -2.46 or -8.91%
ALCOA Inc (AA) Down -1.88 or -6.56%
Merck & Co Inc (MRK) Down -1.98 or -5.85%
The Boeing Co (BA) Down -3.54 or -5.59%
Home Depot Inc (HD) Down -1.43 or -4.97%
Intel Corp (INTC) Down -0.93 or -4.61%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT) Down -2.71 or -4.34%
Procter & Gamble Co (PG) Down -2.79 or -3.81%
AT&T Inc (T) Down -1.11 or -3.52%

Key Earnings next week:
Monday: AutoZone (AZO), Carmax (KMX)
Tuesday: Lennar Corp. (LEN)
Wednesday: Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), Nike (NKE), Paycheck (PAYX), Red Hat (RHT)
Thursday: Discover Financial (DFS), Rite Aid (RITE), Research in Motion (RIMM)
Friday:KB Home (KBH)

Economic Data next week:
Wednesday: Existing Home Sales, Crude Inventories (weekly)
Thursday: Durable Goods Orders, Jobless Claims, New Home Sales, Money Supply
Friday: Gross Domestic Product (final), Corporate Profits, Consumer Sentiment