Barchart Stock Market Wrap – March 3, 2009

Weakened auto sales and comments by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner again sent the stock market lower.

Auto sales, the bad news dejour, fell to a 27 year low in February, led by General Motors’ (GM) 53% decline from last year, Ford’s (F) 48% decline and Chrysler’s 44% decline.

Adding to the bad news was comments by Treasury Secretary Geithner to the effect that it might require more than the Congressionally approved $700 billion to bailout the banking industry.

The Dow Jones Industrials closed down 37 points to close at 6,726 for a loss of 0.6% today. The S&P 500 Index was also lower, closing down 4 points for a loss of 0.6%.

 April Comex gold futures fell nearly $23 to $917 on continued concerns over the US economy.

The spot April crude oil futures gained $1.33 to close at $41.48 in a minor rebound after yesterday’s 10% decline.

The March Dollar Index was higher by 13 points on ‘least worst’ of the three major global currencies (Dollar, Yen, Euro) recognition.   

Reports Due Tomorrow:

10:00 am – National Association of realtors Existing Home Sales report for January (expected at 4.81 million versus 4.74 million in December)

10:30 am – Crude Oil Inventories for the week ended 2/27 (Last week stocks were 351.3 million barrels).  

Market Momentum: There were 1,000 advancing issues on the NYSE, with 2,126 declining issues. On the NASDAQ, there were 984 advancing issues with 1,795 declining.

New 52-week Highs: There were 7 issues reaching 52-week highs between the NYSE and NASDAQ

New 52-week Lows: There were 997 new 52-week lows on the NYSE and NASDAQ.