- Commentary -

August 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) (By Bob Farley) — Traders eyed the next trouble spot on Wall Street yesterday, sending stocks down over one percent. Turns out the next trouble spot is an old one: banks with risky real estate on the books. All that toxic money didn’t disappear; it just changed hands. Just like any other thing deemed “toxic,” you can’t just send it “away.” There is no away.

Many traders have taken this Washington-propped run-up in stocks as a chance to break even or close to it. Some see the coming months could be iffy as another house of cards comes tumbling down.

On the other hand, those bad loans might get paid off and everything will work out fine. That would be nice.

The FirstAlert(tm) Economics Calendar lists AIMC, DGI at Jefferies & Co. Industrial CEO Summit; ATPG; WG, STR, ME at EnerCom Incorporated Oil & Gas Conference; CELG, IDRA, REGN, MRNA at CanaccordAdams Global Growth Conference; CKSW ‘Getting to know ClickSoftware; COMS, Q, TDC, NETL at Oppenheimer & Co. Communications, Technology & Internet Conference; SCG at Shields & Company and Berenson & Company East Coast Utilities Seminar.

The FirstAlert(tm) Events Calendar showcases International Trade for June (8:30 a.m.), EIA Petroleum Inventories (10:30 a.m.), Treasury auctions 10-year notes (1 p.m.), Treasury Budget Statement for July (2 p.m.), FOMC meeting - policy announcement (2:15 p.m.).

FirstAlert(tm) “Money Index” is an indicator of the depth of market direction or indirection. While not always including the same stocks, the NYSE/NASDAQ/AMEX 25 Most Actives and NYSE/NASDAQ/AMEX greatest Percentage Losers and Percentage Winners (weighted against pure monetary loss/gain) indicate the direction in which the mass of money is flowing, as well as the general focus of the market. Of the Most Actives, last session’s trading showed 4 advancers versus 21 decliners. Volume leaders were led by Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) trading 139,240,300 shares closing at $3.69 (down 6.3%), Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) trading 47,190,800 shares closing at $1.07 (up 7.0%) and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) trading 41,298,200 shares closing at $15.85 (down 5.0%). Of last session’s Greatest Percentage Losers, stocks taking the greatest monetary losses were led by WSP Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: WH) trading on volume of 666,700 shares (losing $230.5 million), CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE: CIT) trading on volume of 14,841,300 shares (losing $108.9 million) and E. W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) trading on volume of 406,500 shares (losing $107.2 million). Of last session’s Greatest Percentage Winners, stocks making the greatest monetary gains were led by Avanir Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AVNR) trading on volume of 5,933,454 shares (gaining $50.9 million), Helicos BioSciences Corporation (NASDAQ: HLCS) trading on volume of 2,096,869 shares (gaining $18.7 million) and ICAgen Inc. (NASDAQ: ICGN) trading on volume of 84,738 shares (gaining $8.9 million).

The statistical source for deriving each day’s The FirstAlert(tm) Money Index is StockSmart.com (http://www.stocksmart.com/ri/mostactive.staticdoc).

FirstAlert(tm) Website of the Day: http://www.quaggaproject.org/

Quote of the Day: “I’ve got huge admiration for prose writers because I just know that I’d be no good at it. I don’t think I’d try to write a novel or a screenplay or be a poet even. When you’re peddling ditties, it’s a different thing.” Mark Knopfler

Today is: International Youth Day

Happy Birthday: Robert Southey, “Diamond Jim” Brady, Cecil B. DeMille, Sir Keith Murdoch, Jane Wyatt, Cantinflas, Porter Wagoner, Buck Owens, Parnelli Jones, George Hamilton, Deborah Walley, Mark Knopfler OBE, Pat Metheny, Rebecca Gayheart, Pete Sampras, Casey Affleck, Plaxico Burress, Maggie Lawson.

Today in History: Cleopatra commited suicide in 30 BC after her lover Mark Antony’s defeat at the battle of Actium. Chicago was founded in 1833. Isaac Singer was granted a patent in 1851 for his sewing machine. The last quagga died in 1883 at the Artis Magistra Zoo in Amsterdam. The Hawaiian flag was lowered from Iolani Palace in 1898 in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the American flag to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawai’i to the United States. Alleged date of the first Philadelphia Experiment test on United States Navy ship USS Eldridge in 1943. The Soviet atomic bomb project proceeded in 1953 with the detonation of Joe 4, the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon. Sue, the most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex, was discovered near Faith, South Dakota, in 1990.

[FirstAlert(tm) was created by Gayle Essary, founder of Investrend Communications, Inc., parent of Investrend Information. The opinions expressed in FirstAlert(tm) do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Investrend.]

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