I said in a post in June, Oil and gas prices increase and no relief in sight, that oil would continue its rise and we would continue to feel the pressure as consumers. Now this happens and it make me look like a liar … or does it ? In the article one analyst states that just because oil has dropped from its high of $147 to $130, does not mean all our fears have been cured and we can get back to partying like rock stars. In fact towards the end of the article the author mentions that the AAA report average still holds at $4.114. And I second this as know of the gas stations have lowered their prices either.

    What does this mean ? I think part is as mentioned int the article the market movers our taken some of the huge gain they got in the run-up of oil futures and buying stocks that have been crushed. For instance , Bank of America ( BAC ) , was up $3.83 at closing.  Not surprising considering it still trades for $5.00 below book value. I think the other side of this is the price has to come down so they can move it up again.
Finance.Yahoo.Com – Click for Complete Story

   So my strategy remains, pay off debt, and buy good stocks at a discount. Race you to a million.

-= Matt

Bear Stearns once commended as one of the greatest Investment Firms on Wall Street will soon be absorbed by JPMorgan Chase. A price agreement has been reached and shares of Bear will be swapped for shares of JPMorgan. Shares of Bear Stearns traded for as high as $163 now trades for $10 a share. Only $6 more than when it went public 23 years ago. Getting caught up in the subprime mortgage madness they would soon come undone. In less than a year Bear Stearns would be forced to sell itself or file chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Ticker Symbol: BSC
Company Key Dates:
1923: The original company is founded by Joseph Bear, Robert Stearns, and Harold Mayer as an equity trading house.
1933: Bear Stearns opens its first regional office in Chicago, and Salim L. “Cy” Lewis–future chairman–is hired to direct Bear Stearns’s new institutional bond trading department.
1955: Bear Stearns opens its first international office in Amsterdam.
1965: Bear Stearns begins expanding retail operations in the United States and, over the next eight years, opens offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, and Boston.
1978: Alan “Ace” Greenberg succeeds Lewis as chairman.
1985: Bear Stearns forms a holding company called Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., goes public, and reorganizes from a brokerage house into a full-service investment firm.
1992: Company earnings double to over $295 million for best year in Bear Stearns’s history to date.
1993: James E. Cayne succeeds Alan Greenberg as CEO; Greenberg stays on as chairman.
1999: Bear Stearns agrees to pay $42 million to settle civil and criminal fraud charges in connection with its role as clearing broker for A.R. Baron.
2001: James E. Cayne succeeds Alan Greenberg as chairman.
2001: Bear Stearns completes construction of its world headquarters at 383 Madison Ave, New York, NY.
2003: Bear Stearns along with 9 other of the worlds top investment firms are forced to pay penelaties related to using their in house R&D release false or inflated claims to move stock prices in a favorable manor for the firm.
2006: The company had total capital of approximately $66.7 billion and total assets of $350.4 billion.
2007: Around June 2007 Bear Stearns pumps 1.6 Billion of capital in its Enhanced Leverage Fund and High-Grade Fund to keep them from closing.
2008: Bear Stearns agrees to be bought by JPMorgan Chase for $10 per share, underwritten by $29 billion in special financing from the Fed.

Company History:
Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., the holding company that owns Bear, Stearns & Company, Inc., was created on October 29, 1985, as the successor to Bear Stearns & Company and Subsidiaries, a partnership organized in 1957. The partnership, in turn, was the successor to a company founded in 1923 by Joseph Bear, Robert Stearns, and Harold Mayer as an equity-trading house. Headquartered in New York, Bear Stearns today is a full service brokerage and investment banking firm focused on three core areas: capital markets, wealth management, and global clearing services. The company maintains offices in major cities all over the globe.
Read more…

Big moves today. I think there are a lot of stocks for sale. And with the DOW moving down so much , it looks like investors finally realized they better buy some value before things move up and they miss a good deal. I think its a good time to pick up stocks and maybe even flip some for some quick profits. Also always this is my opinion and always due your own research and seek professional advice as needed.

AP
Wall Street Whiplash: Stocks Plunge, Then Post Big Gains on Day After Fed Rate Cut — NEW YORK (AP)

It started with another stomach-turning drop at the open, and a loss of more than 300 points by midday. Then stocks changed course, raced higher and closed with a dramatic gain of nearly 300. This wasn’t just volatility. This was Wall Street whiplash.
Amid tumbling housing prices, an ongoing credit crisis and growing fears of a recession, turbulence has become a hallmark of Wall Street in recent weeks. And after five straight days of pullbacks, analysts saw some positive signs in Wednesday’s trading.

Investors certainly found a reason to buy, perhaps encouraged by the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented 0.75-point interest rate cut a day earlier and a widely held bet on another half-point cut next week. By day’s end, the Dow had swung 631.86 points from its low point to its high — the largest single-day turnaround in more than five years.

Finance.Yahoo.Com – Click Here for Complete Story

AP
Stocks Dive, Then Rebound After Fed Cut
Tuesday January 22, 6:23 pm ET
By Madlen Read, AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP)

The opening bell hadn’t even sounded on Wall Street when the Federal Reserve announced an emergency interest-rate cut. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 465 points including 300 in the first minute then rebounded to finish down a more bearable 128. The recovery Tuesday was a victory of sorts for a battered market. But a long-term comeback may depend on factors much more difficult to achieve a turnaround in the housing market and renewed confidence among U.S. consumers, who hold up most of the economy.

The alarming early drop in U.S. stocks followed the lead of markets abroad, where investors fled stocks and sent indexes plummeting on fears of a U.S. recession that could spread to other global economies.

By the close, the Dow had recovered to a loss of 128.11, or just over 1 percent, at 11,971.19. Before trading began, the Federal Reserve moved to slash its benchmark federal funds rate by 0.75 percentage points, to 3.5 percent. It was the widest cut since 1990, the beginning of what the Fed says is a comparable period in the way it handled the rate. The Fed cut the discount rate, the interest rate the Fed charges banks directly, to 4 percent, also a three-quarter-point cut.

Finance.Yahoo.com – Click for Complete Story