Monday, December 12 Market Recap

MONDAY (DJIA -163) Credit rating agencies lamented the lack of a bazooka or the ability to go into markets in force if the crisis worsens. They said the negative outlook for credit rating downgrades was not changed. Nevertheless, we think last week’s accords were a big step in the right direction, with liquidity concerns being diminished and everyone clearly focused on solving the crisis and displaying uncommon unity. The DOW was down 244 pts at one point, but recovered quite a bit into the close. Gold fell 2.8% to $1664.