In NY, the DJIA (+32.73 +0.29% to 11220.96), S&P 500 (+5.48 +0.44% to 1242.31), and the NASDAQ Composite (-3.16 -0.14% to 2255.88) ended mixed.

In Canada, the Toronto Composite (flat at 12816.42) tagged along, but the Venture Board (-0.95% to 1812.11) remained weak.

The Asia-Pacific stocks: Australia (-2.01% to 4949.5), Shanghai (-3.29% to 2202.4), Hong Kong (-2.24% to 19933.3), Japan (-2.75% to 12212.2) and India (-2.79% to 14483.8) all sank to comparable levels following the Thursday smash-up in NY.

In European trading, the French CAC, German DAX and UK FTSE closed down -2.49%, -2.52% and -2.26% respectively at 4196.66, 6127.44 and 5240.70. As noted Friday morning after these bourses opened weak, indicating a weak open in NY, “… these losses today so far are just a catch-up and not an indication of what might happen in NY later in the day.” Did I get that right! As soon as Europe closed, NY was lit up with green lights.

Commodity prices were quiet on Friday; Crude Oil ($WTIC) dropped -$1.66/bbl to 106.23 and $GOLD dropped -$0.40/oz to 802.80. $SILVER was unusually weak.

In NY equity trading, the strongest sector, by far, was Financials (XLF +3.6%) – but it was down -4.9% on Thursday. Banks ($BKX +4.8%) made up for the prior day’s loss. Utilities (XLU -2.1%) was the big loser, pushed down by the large loss in Exelon (EXC -8.0%). Semi-conductors ($SOX +2.2%) was a winner, pulled up by the Sanyo interest in acquiring SanDisk (SNDK +31.1%).

For the extreme price changes in the stocks of the high quality Cara 100 companies, where the trading volumes were stronger again, SNDK (+31.1%) led the pack on 55 million shares traded. This stock is now in play. POT (+7.8%), TCK (+4.5%) and VCP (+4.4%) – all commodity plays – were strong. The losers were Exelon (EXC -8.0%) and Nokia (NOK -7.6%). But there were 17 of the Cara 100 that hit intra-day 52-week lows on Friday.

The SanDisk story may or may not be true. I note that weekly magazine Business Week carried the story on Friday. It seems odd that a daily paper or TV reporter didn’t break the story.

The Exelon (EXC) share price crash happened after the largest US operator of nuclear power plants submitted an application to build and operate a two-reactor plant near San Antonio TX.

In forex markets, the Euro continued to weaken (-0.60% to 1.4234) with the globally trade-weighted $USD lifting +0.38% to 78.94. The Yen dropped -0.36% to 93.01, correcting after a powerful +1.06% rally on Thursday. The British Pound lost -0.22% to 1.7636, while the Cdn Loonie gained +0.52% to 94.09.

Traders had earlier in the week been moving capital to safety in the form of US Treasury instruments. But Friday was quiet as the long bond ($USB) was completely flat at 119.94. Yields stayed pretty much flat across the board, closing at: 4.276, 3.666, and 2.919 for the 30-year, 10-year and 5-year bonds and notes respectively. The T-Bill yield dropped a tad to 1.640.

The closing prices of the futures were: Oct Crude Oil at 106.23; and Sept DJIA at 11227.

In the cash (spot) precious metals market, closing prices at week’s end were: gold at 802.80, palladium at 270.5, platinum at 1367, and silver at 12.22. There was some weakness during the day, particularly for silver.

Comments

After the US Jobs data was published at 8:30am ET, the DJIA futures sank and the market continued south for two hours. Suddenly – maybe it was a leak that Fannie and Freddie would be saved by this Administration – US equity prices firmed.

Whatever is happening with Fannie and Freddie seems to me to be a well-crafted maneuver by Washington insiders (Mr. Moral Hazard instantly comes to mind) to help Wall Street in the remaining days of this Administration. Oh sure there will be cries by panic-stricken investors that Fannie and Freddie are on the verge of collapse and that this single problem is the source of America’s economic and financial stress (ie, simultaneous economic recession and credit crunch) at the moment. But, as I see it, the ‘Blame it on Fannie & Freddie’ story is being scripted by public relations propagandist of the first order, Hill & Knowlton. Let’s just say for the record that the Boards of Directors and CEOs of Fannie & Freddie have quite recently publicly announced that their enterprises have adequate capital to sustain operations until well past the coming change of Administration. Then, why the panic?

What is wrong with America – the greed and gluttony of Wall Street and Washington insiders – will look like smack-mouth football in the next month, and the central characters behind it won’t give a damn. This is wrong – they know it; you know it.

The fact there is nothing you can do about it – to the detriment of your children and their children – is a tragedy. The decisions made in September and October by your elected representatives – societal leeches of the highest order -- will steal the wealth created by a whole generation of Americans.

PIMCO, the Fed of NY, the Treasury Secretary – oh my! Mom & Pop, you have been set up for a fleecing.

Yes, these are interesting times.

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International Economics Review

US Economic Calendar.

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Knobias Cara100 Tables

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Cara 100 Daily RSI-7 Charts

At least one RSI value >70:

Ticker	Last	RSI-7M	RSI-7W	RSI-7D	Zone
WMT	60.74	82.75	72.20	69.41
JNJ	70.67	72.92	70.32	47.02
DNA	96.64	72.67	75.41	37.92
PG	70.78	63.32	76.68	54.73
TGT	55.03	54.04	71.51	66.75
KSS	51.04	53.61	74.90	59.01
SNDK	17.64	30.04	47.20	71.06	Buy alert (trig. 1 days ago [on 2008-09-05 at $17.64, +0.00% chg], after a 1 day AZ)

At least one RSI value <30:

Ticker	Last	RSI-7M	RSI-7W	RSI-7D	Zone
WFMI	18.12	19.02	15.01	40.84	Buy alert (trig. 7 days ago [on 2008-08-27 at $18.31, -1.04% chg], after a 2 day AZ)
TGP	21.08	21.17	21.62	27.44	Accumulation Zone (for 2 days)
UBS	20.80	21.24	40.83	46.86
SBUX	15.18	25.09	43.05	39.36
GOL	8.56	25.40	24.45	37.16	Buy alert (trig. 1 days ago [on 2008-09-05 at $8.56, +0.00% chg], after a 1 day AZ)
TTM	9.38	26.41	32.77	39.13
BA	62.89	26.91	36.85	37.32
GRMN	32.51	27.96	25.33	20.10	Accumulation Zone (for 3 days)
NOK	20.62	28.11	19.10	9.06	Accumulation Zone (for 1 days)
DB	82.71	29.41	27.80	37.81
TM	88.82	29.89	39.93	49.18
KB	50.99	30.39	26.52	41.62	Buy alert (trig. 1 days ago [on 2008-09-05 at $50.99, +0.00% chg], after a 3 day AZ)
CCJ	26.87	31.41	19.06	24.70
VIP	21.99	31.97	24.70	38.18
CHA	45.92	32.10	24.96	25.17	Buy alert (trig. 1 days ago [on 2008-09-05 at $45.92, +0.00% chg], after a 1 day AZ)
EXC	64.97	32.31	18.64	14.10
CHL	52.99	33.25	15.91	26.07
TOT	64.21	33.75	22.12	14.29
NUE	48.45	33.80	24.37	36.56
VCP	20.98	33.84	19.89	47.79
RIO	23.52	33.94	26.33	24.66
XOM	75.62	33.96	29.53	31.46
ABX	30.94	34.77	26.71	27.82
SLW	9.76	34.96	27.84	26.86
TEF	71.20	35.24	25.32	32.42
CSCO	22.26	36.33	37.65	21.75
CTSH	27.75	37.05	37.54	27.35
BHP	59.71	37.13	29.46	24.07
GOOG	444.25	37.45	27.12	18.76
STO	25.53	37.58	28.25	20.18
MBT	65.05	37.81	29.01	42.46
ABV	58.05	38.05	34.06	24.51
IMO	44.01	38.35	31.91	24.82
GG	29.20	39.31	29.17	25.34
ABB	22.69	40.14	27.41	29.06
PBR	44.81	40.85	25.30	22.09
TS	45.05	41.30	25.36	20.48
DELL	20.41	41.38	28.91	15.45
BBD	17.50	41.78	24.83	28.98
CVX	80.22	42.10	30.97	27.72
INTC	20.61	43.06	36.87	19.01
HBC	75.90	43.45	39.27	29.88
SYT	48.41	43.90	27.63	26.03
LLTC	30.69	43.93	39.26	24.70
GGB	15.17	44.77	27.10	19.96
ORCL	20.07	45.85	34.08	21.02
GSK	45.28	45.86	45.85	29.41
SU	49.69	46.20	36.34	28.73
RIMM	106.95	50.37	31.94	14.88
ADBE	40.91	52.33	43.44	23.89
QCOM	47.67	57.03	40.28	14.61

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International Equity Markets Review

Europe

Here is the latest session data for the bourses of Europe.

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Here is the latest session data for the London stock exchange FTSE.

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Here is the latest session data for the German DAX.

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Here is the latest session data for the French CAC 40.

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Here is the latest session data for the Milan Italy stock exchange MIBTEL.

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Here is the latest session data for the Swiss market index.

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Asia-Pacific

Here is the latest session data for the Asia-Pacific stock exchanges.

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Here is the latest chart for the Japanese Nikkei 225 index.

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Here is the latest chart for the Singapore index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Shanghai Composite index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Hong Kong Hang Seng index .

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Here is the latest chart for the India BSE 30 index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Australian All Ordinaries index .

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US Equity Markets Review

DJIA (interactive) chart

NASDAQ Composite (interactive) chart

Table 14: Dow 30 List

Sorted by 1-Week Price Performance

Symbol	Close	1Day Change	1Day %Change	1W %Change	2W %Change	4W %Change	YTD %Change	3M %Change	6M %Change	12M %Change
HD	28.59	0.02	0.07%	4.27%	7.60%	16.79%	9.50%	2.44%	6.84%	-21.69%
AIG	22.34	1.12	5.28%	3.86%	12.94%	-6.29%	-60.32%	-38.64%	-49.92%	-65.89%
GM	10.71	0.03	0.28%	3.58%	7.96%	9.85%	-56.12%	-37.18%	-53.37%	-65.53%
BAC	32.23	1.63	5.33%	2.55%	10.98%	2.25%	-20.54%	0.75%	-14.17%	-35.48%
JPM	39.60	1.69	4.46%	1.85%	9.21%	-0.53%	-6.09%	-5.94%	2.22%	-10.35%
WMT	60.74	0.96	1.61%	1.44%	3.83%	6.64%	29.51%	1.57%	22.58%	43.09%
C	19.07	0.77	4.21%	-0.05%	9.16%	3.25%	-34.06%	-10.13%	-13.91%	-58.54%
PG	70.78	0.34	0.48%	-0.32%	1.26%	4.89%	-2.12%	6.16%	6.12%	8.13%
JNJ	70.67	0.22	0.31%	-1.04%	-0.86%	0.03%	7.22%	5.54%	11.94%	14.63%
KO	51.93	0.22	0.43%	-2.24%	-2.95%	-3.85%	-14.99%	-9.20%	-12.99%	-3.28%
DD	44.25	0.25	0.57%	-2.25%	0.20%	2.05%	1.17%	-7.29%	-6.45%	-8.57%
T	31.50	-0.27	-0.85%	-2.26%	2.41%	3.93%	-23.17%	-20.17%	-11.14%	-20.71%
AXP	39.40	0.65	1.68%	-2.45%	6.46%	8.24%	-22.81%	-16.93%	-6.70%	-33.58%
GE	27.88	0.18	0.65%	-3.30%	-3.03%	-2.42%	-24.16%	-10.24%	-17.20%	-28.05%
DIS	31.36	-0.18	-0.57%	-3.77%	-1.48%	1.42%	-1.51%	-9.08%	-0.88%	-7.87%
VZ	34.08	-0.13	-0.38%	-3.92%	-1.42%	1.13%	-21.13%	-12.53%	-5.20%	-18.76%
PFE	18.51	-0.16	-0.86%	-3.94%	-4.44%	-3.64%	-19.21%	-0.86%	-16.05%	-25.09%
UTX	64.08	-0.80	-1.23%	-3.96%	-0.20%	-1.02%	-14.80%	-8.42%	-8.10%	-12.76%
MCD	60.30	0.28	0.47%	-4