Market Close Data

11/14/08 Friday: S&P 870 down 40
1) Hedge fund selling in advance of a Saturday deadline contributed to the market's gyrations, which set back the Dow Jones industrials almost 340 points and helped the major indexes fall sharply for the second straight week.


2) Analysts believe the market is still searching for a bottom after last month's huge losses, and that the pattern of volatility will continue for some time -- selling, even on technical reasons like looming deadlines for cashing out hedge fund holdings, is still coming against a backdrop of an extremely weak economy.

"Clearly, the trading crowd like hedge funds can take this market in any direction they want to. Anybody looking to build a position is just not confident," said Joseph V. Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co.

3)
Many investors are still trying to assimilate to the idea that the economy's downturn would be protracted, lasting well into next year and perhaps longer.

"The economic news continues to be very negative," said Ben Halliburton, chief investment officer of Tradition Capital Management. "The realization that '09 is going to be a very bad year for economic activity is starting to dawn on people and they are starting to digest how bad it's going to be."