The Weekly Report For February 16th - February 20th, 2009

February 15, 2009- Market Summary
Investors were unimpressed with the details of the banking bailout package and, as a result, they pushed the broad markets sharply lower. The Dow slumped an astonishing 382 points for the day - the worst drop in more than two months. According to CNN Money, nearly 400 of the S&P 500 companies have weighed in and reported a collective loss, even excluding financials. A senior analyst at Standard & Poor's noted that "after the sixth quarter of negative growth, it will be the first quarter ever of negative earnings." Many investors are now waiting patiently for a catalyst that will be able to reverse this trend and break stocks out of their sideways price range. Based on the charts, you can see that the bulls were unable to send the major indexes above the resistance of their respective 50-day moving averages and with the lack of a catalyst to push prices higher, many investors are choosing to remain on the sidelines. The question now is whether the indexes will break down from here and make a move below their November lows, which isn't looking like an impossible feat.

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