Traders-Blog.com

U.S stocks ended mixed today, but overall the market showed strong gains for this week, since November. This improvement in the market might be caused by a decrease in oil prices, plus investors’ optimism. The Dow fell 21.28 points, to close at 10,471.91. However, the S&P increased 1.80 points, to close at 1,189.28. The S&P index closed at 1,189.28 instead, after falling 1.80 points.

In a response to a question of houses’ prices, Alan Greenspan said that he does “not perceive that there is a national bubble, but it is hard not to see that there are a lot of local bubbles”. For instance, in the San Francisco Bay area, which is the nation’s most expensive region for homes, the medium price of a house was $689,200. Meanwhile, in the price of the house in Florida was $275,000 in 2004. Earlier this week, the Fed warned banks that they should tighten controls on home equity loans that sometimes are even offered to borrowers without documentation.

A New York grand jury is considering possible criminal charges in a probe of American International Group Inc. (AIG). Attorney General Spitzer, who is presenting evidence to the jury against AIG, said in April that he may pursue criminal or civil charges against Greenberg, who ran AIG for almost four decades. Correcting the accounting errors made by the AIG will reduce AIG’s shareholders by $2.7 billion, or about 3.3 percent.

Gap Inc., the nation’s largest apparel seller said it made $291 million, or 31 cents a share, in comparison to last year’s profit of $312 million, or 33 cents per share. However, today Gap Inc. lost 28 cents to close at $21.46. Besides, earnings fell to 31 cents a share from 33 cents a year earlier. And, the specialty retailer reported that same-stores sales were so sluggish that the quarter’s financial results fell to a loss.

All the best,
Manuel Jesus-Backus
The Portfolio Crafter
Guaranteed monthly gains of 8% or your money back.