每日市场点评 --- June 30, 2008

The market finished the last day of the second quarter in a mixed fashion. The Dow, despite a modestly rebound in today’s trading, ended the month with a loss of 1288 points and for the quarter, it lost more than 7%. The Nasdaq posted a loss of nearly 1% for the session but for the quarter, it actually had a gain of less than 1%. The S&P 500 suffered one of its worst months in June and finished the quarter down by 2.5%. It was a light day in terms of the economic news. The Chicago PMI rose to 49.6 in June from 49.1 while economists were calling for a drop to 48.0. There was little impact from the report as investors are more interested in the national ISM data which is scheduled to be released tomorrow. Crude price finished session modestly flat after hitting a new record earlier.

Financials were among the biggest losers for the day and the quarter. On the winner’s list, it’s really anything that is related to crude oil. Crude oil itself is a big winner in the second quarter. After starting the quarter at around $100 per barrel, it broke $110 level on April 9th, $120 level on May 6th, $130 level on May 21st and $140 level on June 27th. The strong performance in crude oil also boosted the CRB commodity index, which gained more than 20% in the quarter despite a modest pullback today. The US dollar was higher against most major currencies today and believe it or not, it was also higher during the quarter. Treasuries had a modest rally today but for the quarter, it lost more than 2%, making it the worst quarter in more than four years. The VIX index gained 2% today. The new 52-week lows on NYSE and Nasdaq were exceeding 800 issues for the second session in a row.