The Weekly Report for October 6th - October 10th, 2008

October 5, 2008- Market Summary
Underlying economic issues plagued the stock market again last week despite the news of a freshly approved government bailout. The rescue effort was shunned by investors as they sent stocks down for their worst week in seven years. The Dow Jones Industrial average shed 7% on the week while the S&P 500 fell an astonishing 9%. The fact that the major indexes are trading below the long-term resistance of their respective 200-day moving averages continues to suggest that a lot of work that needed to be done in order for the panic selling to cease any time soon.

Volatility continued this past week, as more changes were seen within financial institutions across the country. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) received vote of confidence by Warren Buffett when it was reported that he would make a $5 billion dollar investment in the company. Other notable news was the takeover battle between Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) for the distressed Wachovia (NYSE:WB). This news just added to the fear that seems to be spreading to investors across the country about how the financial landscape will look after everything shakes out.

As you can see from the charts below, the volatility was seen in most of the major indexes, and no real change in trend was established. The best decision might still be to remain on the sidelines until everything settles down.

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