Monday’s Stock Market Recap: Uncertainty And Unease

Monday proved to be a day of unease and uncertainty among markets, as fighting in the Middle East continued. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) closed at 8,483 points, and lost 31 points for the day. The Nasdaq Composite index (^IXIC) fell 19 points to close at 1,510, while the S&P 500 index (^GSPC) declined 3 points and finished trading at 869 points. Demand for bonds increased sending prices higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury went down to 2.12% from 2.14%. In other trading, the Russell 200 index closed at 466 points after falling by 10 points. Britain’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE) added 2.44%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) went up 0.09%.

Crude oil saw a strong gain of $2.31, and finished at the $40.02 per barrel as tensions in the Middle East increased between Israel and Palestine. Fighting has been going on for three days. Spikes in oil prices are being blamed on emotions related to the violence in the region. Heating oil and gasoline futures rose to $1.28 and $0.87 respectively in other NYMEX trading. The price of natural gas also rose, settling at $6.08 on Monday.

Wall Street had its own problems as the broken joint venture between Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) and Kuwait’s Petrochemical Industries Co. will force Dow to renegotiate a lower buyout price for Rohm & Haas Co. (ROH). Both deals have been affected by the huge decline in crude prices since the summer. The result was seen in the decline of Dow’s share price on Monday as investors wait to see how the financing for Rohm & Haas will play out.

The recent rise in gold prices has been good to gold producer Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM), sending its shares higher. Gold prices finished at $875, which is the 11 week high for the precious metal.

Micron Technology Inc. (MU), which is the single remaining computer memory chip maker, will be forced to raise money due to low cash reserves. Check out this article on the memory chip makers for more insight on the troubled industry.

Catch the recap tomorrow as the year ends and we approach day 251 of the 2008 trading year.

Disclosure: None

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