The Dow just staged a nearly 900-point turnaround in frenetic Thursday action

[mnhtnbb]

Source: Market Watch



By
Mark
DeCambre

The Dow Jones Industrial Average booked a dramatic reversal, ending higher after trading sharply lower on the session Thursday. The Dow DJIA, +1.14% closed 1.1%, or 258 points, at 23,136, on a preliminary basis, after being down by as many as 611 points, or 2.7%, at session lows. The day's trade follows a historic surge for the Dow that saw it rally by more than 1,000 points, marking the largest single-session point gain in history. The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.86% also turned positive on the day, ending up 0.9% at 2,488. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.38% eked out a modest gain, rising 0.4% to finish at 6,579, based on the preliminary closing levels. The swings occurred within the final hour of trading in a see-saw day. On Wednesday, the Dow ended with a gain of 1,086.25 points, or 5%, at 22,878.45. The S&P 500 soared 5% to end at 2,467.70. The Nasdaq rose 5.8% to 6,554.36.

Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-dow-is-staging-a-600-point-turnaround-in-frenetic-intraday-action-thursday-2018-12-27

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I happened to be sitting at my laptop watching this for the last half hour. Haven't had this much fun in a long time watching the last hour of trading!

[beachbum bob]

1. plunge protection team at work

[PeeJ52]

2. Yeah.. Of course.. No manipulation at all...

I'm so glad Reagan talked us all into giving up our union pensions for the "ownership" society and 401Ks where companies matched dollar per dollar when they first came out and most companies don't even match at all any more. At least we own them now and the owners of the stock markets get to skim off their share of are money by manipulating the prices while giving us our 5% which we used to get on our savings accounts in banks... Boy, they sure got over on us with this "ownership" society crap. I wonder if people will every wise up and unionize again before it's totally outlawed.

[0rganism]

3. this degree of volatility seems unhealthy to me

i don't think "our fundamentals are sound" anymore

[IronLionZion]

8. These swings are driven by emotions not fundamentals

some of it is year end balancing for tax purposes, where investors want their gains or losses to be recorded for 2018. But it's not driven by company earnings at this point. Best to ignore the daily ups and downs because they are going to be pretty nasty for a while.

Companies were using their Trump tax cuts for buybacks last year, which boosted prices artificially. Many of those wealthy investors have cashed out when prices were high and stuck their money in less risky investments.

[FiveGoodMen]

12. One of the fundamentals should be that emotions don't influence our actions that much

[FBaggins]

30. This is money that we're talking about

Greed and fear will always play a role.

[0rganism]

13. then maybe it's time for everyone to do what the wealthy investors have been doing

"cash out when prices (are relatively) high and (stick our) money in less risky investments", so to speak

later, when any bubbles pop and slow steady growth resumes, buy back in until the next tariff-slinging Republican whackjob takes over.

[mnhtnbb]

16. Not necessarily.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-message-investors-are-missing-in-the-stock-markets-wild-swings-the-economy-is-still-solid-2018-12-27

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-contrarian-stock-market-signal-is-flashing-green-2018-12-27

[paleotn]

9. And you are correct.

[KPN]

24. Seems?

Sorry, that made me chuckle. ..... As the saying goes, keep you head on a swivel. Apt advice these days I think ... in a number of ways.

[LiberalFighter]

4. So what will happen tomorrow?

[IronLionZion]

11. Whiplash

whatever happens will be irrational and not worth worrying about. Volatility is the new normal

[JoeOtterbein]

5. It's just a Putin Bounce!

Just dump a few of his hundreds of billions in the markets during the last 1/2 hour of trading and you have a Putin Bounce!

[C_U_L8R]

6. Seems like a high stakes game

of musical chairs

[elmac]

7. this is YUGE! YUGE!

trillion dollar companies, trillion dollar companies!!!

[paleotn]

10. Who's doing the buying?

Who's nutty enough to go long in this market? I get the feeling there's state sponsored manipulation going on.

[mnhtnbb]

15. Warren Buffett, for one.

[paleotn]

17. Interesting since the sage rarely discloses his intentions,

for obvious reasons, until long after he's made his play. Depending on what he picked up, he probably should have bought on Monday. With a global slowdown showing signs of strengthening, compounded with an escalating trade war, this smells like a bear bounce. I know trading is thin between the holidays, but it still take a hell of a lot of buying to move the market that much.

[ffr]

14. I haven't seen such violent swings in the stock market since it was doing it in 2007

when it crashed.

[MsLeopard]

19. And before that

It was a precursor to the Great Crash of 1929, then the Great Depression. Violent market swings during this stage of the game mean another drastic downturn is about to happen. The PPT will try their best to stave it off, but they will fail. History repeats itself.

[LakeSuperiorView]

18. The Dow is only down 6.4% on the year now.

Trumpty Dumpty can't brag on his policies being good for the market any more, negative 6.4%, with little chance of breaking even in the few hours of trading left this year. Typical response to Republican policies.

[bluestarone]

20. As i mentioned before here

I really believe this is a FALSE market!! Manipulated like our election was!!!! NO PROOF BUT i really believe this!!

[guruoo]

21. Somebody just made a lot of money. nt

[Turbineguy]

22. The Wizard I follow says

it's an end-of-year pension funds repositioning. Selling bonds, buying stock in order to meet the allocation percentages after the December plunge.

[mnhtnbb]

25. That is one reason according to an article I'm going to post in a separate OP this morning.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-why-the-stock-market-is-a-hot-mess-and-how-january-could-calm-the-chaos-2018-12-28

[not_the_one]

23. Pump, Dump, Bottom Feed, Rinse and Repeat

all controlled by computerized share trade software.

The little guy has no chance, other than luck. And luck works both ways, which is why the big money (who don't NEED luck) always ends up with even more, and the little guy, more often than not, loses ....

[Bengus81]

27. The big boys with $25k or more can be registered day traders........

Buy in the morning DUMP in the afternoon or vice versa. They make bank while others have to set for a couple of days and wait for theirs to clear and by then the stock has tanked.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

26. Somehow I doubt the market is being manipulated.

Programmed trading is a factor in the violent swings. More so is the essential uncertainty surrounding Trump and all those around him.

There are people who make money by selling. Others who make money, or hope to make money buying.

The essential thing to keep in mind is that in the long run the market goes up. This is the first down year since (I hope I've got it right) 2008. Basically the market has been long overdue for a correction. But with all the hand-wringing and cries of doom and gloom here, the market is still up since Trump was elected.

[Bengus81]

28. Hedge funds can manipulate markets easily. In fact Kramer said he could do it with as little as 4-5M

[FBaggins]

31. Untrue

Cramer was talking (a decade or so ago) about small premarket/futures moves in a single stock (and I think it was 15-20 million).

That’s not manipulating multi-trillion dollar markets over weeks.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

32. I'm not entirely sure he's a reliable source.

But the point that it's not multi-trillion dollar markets over weeks is absolutely correct.

[KayF]

29. Social Security is so boring

it would be a much bigger rush for people's basic income to be totally dependent on the market!