Dow loses some of last week’s gains
The first full trading week of 2009 began with some caution, as investors on Monday gave back some of the gains Wall Street made last week.
Wall Street had opened for trading Monday at a two-month high as investors appeared to be optimistic that the worst of the market decline might be over. The Dow Jones industrial average snapped a four-week losing streak last week on Friday, closing above 9,000 points for the first time since Nov. 5.
The Dow opened at 9,027 points Monday, but careful trading and some selling led to the market closing down 0.9 percent to 8,953 points. Investors appeared wary about putting more money into the volatile market with economic data still generally weak.
“The big question going into 2009 is, ‘How long is it going to take to pay off consumer debt, government debt and bank debt?” said Robert Williams, a portfolio manager with Baltimore-Washington Financial Advisors. “All of that needs to be worked out, first, before there’s real recovery.”
Locally, Baltimore’s biggest publicly traded companies fared well, as Legg Mason was up 3.6 percent to close at $23.56 per share; Black & Decker was up 2.4 percent to close at $44.85 per share; and Constellation Energy Group was up 1.9 percent to close at $26.40 per share.
The Dow has rallied since reaching a low of 7,392 points on Nov. 21. The Dow was as high as 13,990 points in the past year.
Despite Monday’s selling, investors are hopeful that the market’s strength over the past several sessions can continue. Last week’s advance came as many traders were on vacation, making volume light and some of the market’s moves less convincing.
“We had a good tone coming out of the year,” said Richard Cripps, chief market strategist for Stifel Nicolaus. “What we’re looking to see is how much of those gains we give back.”
Analysts expect Wall Street will remain jittery in the coming months as companies release their quarterly results and, more important, their forecasts for the year. Analysts are expecting terrible profit reports and cautious forecasts but anything worse than expected could rock the market.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
