(As of 8:23 am pacific)
Stocks rise after last week’s sharp selloff marked the
worst week of the year for US major stock indices. Stocks rallied slightly on Monday on optimism
over G-8 meetings. G-8 leaders met at
Camp David over the weekend to discuss issues related to Europe. All eight leaders agreed out of the meeting
their desire for Greece to remain in the euro-zone. They also discussed plans for growth-related
initiatives to spur the euro-zone economy.
Stocks in Europe rose after G-8 comments and Asian shares gained as
China signaled it would support the economy if it continues to weaken. In company news, shares of Yahoo rallied 4%
as Alibaba Group agreed to repurchase shares from Yahoo valued at $7.1
billion. Lowe’s Companies slumped 10%
after reducing its earnings forecast for the year. Dominating the headlines was social media
giant, Facebook. After a lackluster IPO
on Friday, where shares finished the day up just 0.6%, investors sold on Monday
as Facebook shares slid 13% at one point to $33.34. Perhaps the bigger story on the Facebook IPO
was the glitch on the Nasdaq exchange which caused a 30 minute delay in trading
on Friday and several mishandled orders that affected investor confidence in
the exchange. Commodities rose with oil
up 0.72% to 92.14 and gold up slightly to 1593. The US dollar was mixed while
the 10 yr. treasury yield traded flat at 1.73%.
30 yr. mortgage rates climbed slightly to 3.80%. The CBOE volatility index slipped 10.52% to
22.46 at 8:22 am pacific.
