Monday, stocks in Asia dropped 0.3%, and in Europe 0.5%. In the U.S., they closed flat on low volume. Tuesday, stocks in Asia shed another 0.3%. Suspense grew as speculation raged whether the FOMC would dare announce further outrage less than three weeks before the election. Stocks in Europe tumbled 1.7% as Moody’s downgraded five banking regions in Spain. Stocks in the U.S. fell 1.6% on low volume as the reality of a poor earnings outlook started to take hold. This dragged the NASDAQ to close below the significant 3000 level. While VXO shot up 18%, it still registered a complacent 18.
Wednesday, stocks in Asia dropped just 0.4%—not bad considering the drop in the West. A decline in the European PMI from 46,1 to 45.3 added to the case that the world economy is on decline. Despite this bad news, stocks in Europe trended slightly higher. Dow Chemical reported disappointing earnings and outlook. Bucking the trend, Facebook reported a slight profit and even some revenue from mobile advertising. This ignited the hope of the Facebook fanatics lifting the price of this loser stock to about three times its value. It rose nearly 20% in one day to close at $23.23. What makes this even more ludicrous is this gain occurred after Google reported headwinds just a few days earlier. The FOMC had nothing new to announce. U.S. stocks declined just slightly on low volume.
Thursday, stocks rose 0.3% in Asia. European shares closed just slightly higher. Stocks in the U.S. managed a 0.4% rise on low volume. Crude oil dropped over 2% Friday, stocks in Asia shed 0.3%, and the Nikkei broke below the 9000 mark. Oil dipped another 2%. In Europe markets closed virtually flat as also did stocks in the U.S. on moderately low volume.
Unless you’re a Facebook fan, virtually all of the action this week came on Tuesday. The rest of the week amounted to meandering. With the S&P 500 Index hovering just above 1400 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing in on 13,000 you have to wonder if technical support or market meddling might be responsible.