Stock Market Basics

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Daily Market Commentary for May 16, 2008 from

Traders and day traders are focusing on not making more trades but, trying to make the best of the trades they can make. An increase of quiet trading action over the lunchtime period indicates that those playing these markets, are doing so with caution and avoiding the normal slow trading periods. ()

At the closing bell on the Stock Exchange, here is how the major world indices and major U.S. indices ended the session on the U.S. Markets:
DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) loss of 5.86 points on the day to end the session at 12,986.80
NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) gain of 49.49 points to end the session at 9,603.01
NASDAQ loss of 4.88 points for a close at 2,528.85
S&P 500 gain of 1.78 points for a close at 1,425.35
FTSE All-World ex-U.S. gain of 0.45 points to close at 257.29
FTSE RAFI 1000 closed at 5,731.19
BEL 20 gain of 12.74 points to close at 3,811.73
CAC 40 gain of 20.31 points to close at 5,077.82
FTSE100 gain of 29.3 points to close at 6,281.1
NIKKEI 225 loss of 32.2 points to close at 14,219.50

News on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today: advanced stocks 1,654; declined stocks 1,489; unchanged stocks 118; stocks hitting new highs 150; stocks hitting new lows 26. Daily Trading Range and end of day trading results for volatile stocks on the NYSE traded by active Day Traders today: Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RTP) gained 8.43 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $557.55, low on the trading day $543.18, for a closing price at $554.83; Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS) gained 0.73 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $132.16, low on the trading day $127.69, for a closing price at $129.66; BMC Software Incorporated (NYSE: BMC) gained 2.22 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $39.37, low on the trading day $37.02, for a closing price at $38.65; Kohl's Corporation (NYSE: KSS) shed 1.22 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $49.60, low on the trading day $47.95, for a closing price at $49.27; Maguire Properties Incorporated (NYSE: MPG) shed 1.35 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $16.56, low on the trading day $13.94, for a closing price at $15.20; Giant Interactive Group, Incorporated (NYSE: GA) shed 0.69 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $15.76, low on the trading day $14.97, for a closing price at $15.60; Apache Corporation (NYSE: APA) gained 7.33 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $143.49, low on the trading day $138.22, for a closing price at $143.49; Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) shed 3.37 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $288.80, low on the trading day $280.60, for a closing price at $283.40; Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros S.A. (Unibanco) (NYSE: UBB) gained 3.00 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $155.22, low on the trading day $150.68, for a closing price at $152.04; InterContinental Exchange, Incorporated (NYSE: ICE) shed 4.49 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $160.39, low on the trading day $153.26, for a closing price at $154.51; Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC (NYSE: WBD) gained 6.98 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $137.32, low on the trading day $125.86, for a closing price at $134.98; Mechel Open Joint Stock Company (NYSE: MTL) gained 11.58 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $171.90, low on the trading day $158.66, for a closing price at $168.99; Cantel Medical Corporation (NYSE: CMN) shed 0.35 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $11.80, low on the trading day $9.41, for a closing price at $9.72; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Incorporated (NYSE: FCX) gained 4.75 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $124.50, low on the trading day $120.04, for a closing price at $124.18; Petroleo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR) gained 2.38 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $70.65 low on the trading day $68.98, for a closing price at $70.65; CME Group, Incorporated (NYSE: CME) gained 3.75 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $480.84, low on the trading day $473.93, for a closing price at $478.00; Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) shed 0.27 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $193.83, low on the trading day $188.95, for a closing price at $191.37; Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Incorporated (NYSE: POT) gained 2.85 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $207.94, low on the trading day $204.34, for a closing price at $207.00; Telephone & Data Systems Incorporated (NYSE: TDS) gained 5.04 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $54.00, low on the trading day $47.62, for a closing price at $52.85.

News on the NASDAQ today: advanced stocks 1,218 declined stocks 1,655; unchanged stocks 146; stocks hitting new highs 60; stocks hitting new lows 67. Trading range and end of day trading results for volatile NASDAQ stocks traded by active Day Traders today: Trico Marine Services Incorporated (TRMA) shed 2.43 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $33.94, low on the trading day $32.26, for a closing price at $33.01; Zoltek Companies Incorporated (ZOLT) gained 4.47 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $32.07, low on the trading day $26.97, for a closing price at $30.98; Intuitive Surgical, Incorporated (ISRG) gained 6.77 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $304.28, low on the trading day $292.30, for a closing price at $299.75; Stericycle Incorporated (SRCL) gained 4.00 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $56.81, low on the trading day $54.19, for a closing price at $56.68; Esmark, Incorporated (ESMK) shed 1.77 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $16.48, low on the trading day $14.60, for a closing price at $14.63; First Solar, Incorporated (NasdaqGS: FSLR) gained 4.36 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $313.43, low on the trading day $306.21, for a closing price at $311.14; DryShips, Incorporated (NasdaqGS: DRYS) gained 4.24 points on the trading day, high on the trading day $112.00, low on the trading day $108.03, for a closing price at $110.74.

News on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) today: advanced stocks 716; declined stocks 463; unchanged stocks 95; stocks hitting new highs 58; stocks hitting new lows 22.

University of Michigan Mid-May Sentiment came in at 59.5 as compared to April reading at 62.6; University of Michigan Mid-May Current Index came in at 71.7 as compared to April reading at 77.0; University of Michigan Mid-May Expectations came in at 51.7 as compared to April reading at 53.3; University of Michigan 12-Mo Inflation Forecast increased by 5.2% as compared to April reading of an increase by 4.8%; University of Michigan 5-Yr Inflation Forecast increased by 3.3% as compared to April reading of an increase by 3.2%;

University of Michigan Mid-May Sentiment lowest since June 1980.

U.S. April Housing Starts increased 8.2% to 1.032M compared to consensus of a drop by 1.4%; Building Permits increased 4.9% to rate of 978,000 in April; March Housing Starts Revised to a decrease by 13.8% from a decrease by 11.9%.

Remarks by Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. on the U.S. Economy, Housing and Capital Markets before the Washington Post 200 Lunch Washington - Over the last forty years, Washington has transformed into a diverse corporate center. Congratulations to the Post for recognizing this through their annual list of 200. And I am pleased to join you and represent the "old" Washington, the less than ten percent of the region's workers who work for the federal government. While the Post 200 companies may be headquartered here, your operations span the nation and the world and so I will provide an update on the housing and credit markets and the U.S. economy, and look forward to learning your views of the same.

Housing Markets
The housing correction began in 2006, and most forecasters expect a prolonged period of adjustment. Four points sum up my current view of the progress of that correction and our efforts to minimize its spillover into the rest of the economy. First, our focus since last summer - to help homeowners avoid preventable foreclosures is the right focus and it has been successful. We encouraged the creation of the HOPE NOW Alliance of mortgage lenders, servicers and counselors, to streamline efforts to help struggling borrowers. The Alliance reports that, since July, the industry has helped 1.4 million homeowners with loan workouts that allowed them to stay in their homes. The rate of workouts has now increased to about 2 million per year. In addition, we've taken administrative steps to expand access to FHA programs and enabled almost 200,000 borrowers to refinance into affordable FHA mortgages since August. These are significant numbers, and a significant achievement, particularly when you consider that 2 million is also the estimated number of homes that will go into foreclosure this year. Second, there is no silver bullet to undo the lax underwriting practices of recent years. Because of these past excesses, foreclosures will remain elevated even if we avoid every single preventable foreclosure. Third, we know the correction has further to go, and so we should not be surprised at headlines that note rising foreclosures and falling home prices. But the correction is progressing. We are working through the excess inventory the inventory of new single-family homes for sale is down 18 percent from its 2006 peak. As of April, single-family housing starts are down to a 692,000 annual rate, off 62 percent from their January 2006 peak. We didn't get here quickly. There were years of excesses. And this won't be resolved quickly. Fourth, our work is not complete. Housing is the biggest risk to our economy; we are constantly monitoring the situation and examining approaches to address the problem. We are particularly focused on monitoring and continuously improving the execution of the HOPE NOW Alliance efforts, and working with Congress to complete work that is crucial to mortgage financing