Stocks-commodities correlation hints at mood swing

Date: Thu, 07 May 2009 12:01:21 -0400

Stocks-commodities correlation hints at mood swing

The stock market's recent rise has coincided with a rally in commodity
prices -- an unusual occurrence -- with gold's and equities' prices
moving in the same
direction as a reflection of changing sentiment on the global economy.

US STOCKS KNOCKED BACK ON DROP IN TECHNOLOGY SHARES

A drop in technology stocks knocked the broader U.S. stock market back
on its heels Thursday, as investors looked ahead to the official bank
stress-tests results and a key report on employment. At 10:45 a.m.
EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 70 points. The Nasdaq
Composite Index was down 1.8%, and the S&P 500 declined by 0.6%, led
by a swoon of more than 3% in its technology sector. Tech stocks have
been at the leading edge of the market's
rebound from its bear-market lows of early March. The Nasdaq is up by
roughly 10% for the year to date, well outpacing broader measures, and
stocks like Google, Apple, Amazon and eBay have seen strong
year-to-date gains.

STRESSED BANKS GET 30 DAYS TO COME UP WITH PLAN

Large financial institutions undergoing stress tests will have 30 days
to develop plans for how they will raise any required new capital, the
Federal Reserve and other bank regulators say.

GM LOSES $6 BILLION; SALES HALVED

General Motors Corp. says it lost almost twice as much money in the
first quarter as it did a year ago, putting even more pressure on the
automaker to speed its restructuring ahead of a looming deadline.

HOUSE REPORTEDLY WANTS B. OF A.'S LEWIS TO TESTIFY

A U.S. congressional panel will ask Bank of America Chief Executive
Kenneth Lewis and top federal officials to testify under oath on
claims that the bank was pressured by the government to buy Merrill
Lynch, The Wall Street Journal
reports.