1:47 pm - Stocks advance amid hope for automaker rescue

Stocks advance amid hope for automaker rescue NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street put on another impressive show of resilienceFriday, rebounding from an early sell-off to end higher after the governmentsaid it would assist troubled U.S. automakers. The market, which just a week earlier withstood a terrible Novemberemployment report, managed its advance after the Treasury Department said it wasprepared to assist the nation's Big Three automakers. The Dow Jones industrialaverage had fallen more than 200 points in early trading after the Senate hadkilled a $14 billion bailout package for the companies. "It's hard to say if this is indeed the beginning of a recovery, but itcould be," said Matt King, chief investment officer of Bell Investment Advisors."It seems like the past few Fridays we've ended the week on a positive note." A week ago, the market shook off the Labor Department's report that theeconomy lost a larger than expected 533,000 jobs in November. Investors areshowing a greater tolerance for bad economic and corporate news, and manyanalysts believe that the market may have reached a bottom after the horrificselling of the past three months. Since its Nov. 20 low, the Dow is up 14.3 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500is up 16.9 percent and the Nasdaq composite index has seen a gain of 17.1percent. Still, from their October 2007 highs, the Dow remains down by 39.1percent and the S&P 500 index is down 44 percent. The Nasdaq, which peaked atthe start of the decade, is down 46.1 percent from its recent top. Many analysts believe Wall Street is growing more confident that thegovernment's steps to stimulate the economy, including its $700 billion bankbailout program, will work. And so news that the Treasury Department could helpprevent bankruptcy filings and job losses in the auto industry helped turn themarket around Friday. "Things are looking a little bit brighter after they made thoseannouncements," said Anthony Conroy, managing director and head trader for BNYConvergEx Group. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have said they could run out of cashwithin weeks without government help. Ford Motor Co., which would also beeligible for aid under the bill, has said it has enough cash to make it throughnext year. Some of the market's moves Friday were with an eye toward next week'sFederal Reserve decision on interest rates. The two-day meeting begins Monday;the Fed is widely expected to lower its key federal funds rate half a percentagepoint to 0.5 percent, another step by the government toward lifting the economyout of recession. The Dow rose 64.59, or 0.75 percent, to 8,629.68. The Dow tumbled 196 pointsThursday as worries intensified that the auto bill would stall in the Senate. The S&P 500 index rose 6.14, or 0.70 percent, to 879.73, and the Nasdaq rose32.84, or 2.18 percent, to 1,540.72. For the week, the Dow ended with a loss of fewer than 6 points, or 0.07percent. The S&P 500 rose 0.42 percent, while the Nasdaq advanced 2.08 percentbecause of Friday's gains. For the year, the Dow is down 34.9 percent, the S&P500 is down 40.1 percent and the Nasdaq is off 41.9 percent. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 17.22, or 3.82 percent, to468.43 Friday. The number of stocks advancing outpaced decliners by 3-to-2 on the New YorkStock Exchange, where consolidated trading volume came to 5.12 billion sharescompared with 5.39 billion Thursday. Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note,which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.58 percent from 2.63 percent lateThursday. The yield on the three-month T-bill rose to 0.04 percent from 0.02percent late Thursday. The bill has been in great demand because of the safetyit offers investors. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold pricesdeclined. Light, sweet crude fell $1.70 to settle at $46.28 on the New York MercantileExchange. The day's economic news showed continuing weakness, but, as it has done witha steady stream of downbeat data in recent weeks, the market shrugged. The Labor Department said wholesale prices sank in November for the fourthstraight month, raising deflation fears. The Producer Price Index fell agreater-than-expected 2.2 percent as prices for gasoline and other energy pricesretreated. That followed a record 2.8 percent drop in October. Businesses also slashed inventories in October by the largest amount in fiveyears. The Commerce Department said businesses cut what was on shelves and backlots by 0.6 percent, triple the 0.2 percent decline economists expected. The Commerce Department said retail sales fell by 1.8 percent in November.The decline was less than the 1.9 percent slide economists expected but the dropmarked the fifth straight monthly decline -- a period of weakness never beforeseen on the government's retail sales records. Next week's readings include the Consumer Price Index and housing starts forNovember. The week also brings quarterly results from Wall Street's brokerages, whichhave been badly hurt by the stock market's tumble, the slowdown in the economyand the freeze-up in the credit markets. GM ended down 18 cents, or 4.4 percent, at $3.94 after declining as much as37 percent in the session. Ford rose 14 cents, or 4.8 percent, to $3.04.Chrysler isn't publicly traded. But even a potential lifeline for Detroit couldn't ease all the concernsabout job losses. Bank of America Corp. said late Thursday it expected to cut asmany as 35,000 jobs over the next three years, including some from investmentbank Merrill Lynch & Co., which it agreed to buy in September. Bank of Americarose 2 cents to $14.93. Investors grappled with further prospects of diminished confidence in WallStreet. Late Thursday, Wall Street veteran Bernard L. Madoff was arrested on asecurities fraud charge. Madoff, who 18 years ago was chairman of the Nasdaqstock market, was accused of running a phony investment business that lost atleast $50 billion and that he called a "giant Ponzi scheme," prosecutors said. "It's not a happy day when you see a $50 billion fraud," said Ken Mayland,president of research firm ClearView Economics. "Things like that will justerode the public's confidence in the market." Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 5.56 percent. Britain's FTSE 100fell 2.47 percent, Germany's DAX index slid 2.18 percent, and France's CAC-40declined 2.80 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average ended the week down 5.74, or 0.07 percent,at 8,629.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 index finished up 3.66, or 0.42 percent,at 879.73. The Nasdaq composite index ended the week up 31.41, or 2.08 percent,at 1,540.72. The Russell 2000 index finished the week up 7.34, or 1.59 percent, at468.43. The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index -- a free-float weighted indexthat measures 5,000 U.S. based companies -- ended at 8,800.18, up 63.04 points,or 0.72 percent, for the week. A year ago, the index was at 14,993.96.

1:03 pm - Chart of the Week - Sunway

Many tests appearing for Sunway.

Buy on Monday above RM0.75 and place your stops below Rm0.66.

11:23 - Professionals are distributing them now !

Be careful as Bstead can drop anytime !