Alcoa (AA), Caterpillar (CAT) Push Dow Up

After solid reports from the Chicago purchasing managers' index and factory orders, shares of Alcoa (NYSE:AA) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) helped push the Dow up, as it moved slightly into positive territory on the year.

In early trading the S&P 500 (SPX) climbed 10 points, or 0.9%; and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) was up 21 points, or 0.8%.

On Friday the August report for jobs will be released, with expectations of the economy adding about 80,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate should remain at 9.1 percent.

It also appears there will be another round of quantitative easing, with the question apparently only what form it'll take, not if it'll be implemented. That will put downward pressure on the U.S. dollar and push gold and other commodities up.

Alcoa was trading at $12.77, up $0.41, or 3.32 percent, as of 11:59 AM EDT. Caterpillar was at $91.70, jumping $1.87, or 2.08 percent.

Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX) Pulling Dow Down

Shares of Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) are weighing on the Dow today, as they tumbled with crude oil prices falling by over 3 percent to just over $106 a barrel.

This wasn't an unexpected correction, as oil prices had ended last week over $112.79 a barrel, a two-year high.

After recent massive rise in prices in the commodity sector in general, they have also been pressed down today, taking a breather. Both copper and silver dropped from recent highs.

Chevron was trading at $104.60, falling $3.18, or 2.95 percent, as of 2:36 PM EDT. Exxon Mobil was at $83.15, down $2.01, or 2.36 percent.

Alcoa (AA) Rebounds, Leads Dow

Although struggling since highs hit in February, Alcoa (NYSE:AA) appears to be back on track again, thanks largely to the expected boost in aluminum demand from the Japan earthquake and tsunami as the country prepares to rebuild.

Alcoa let the Dow up on Wednesday, as some commodity prices continue to rise in anticipation of the orders mining companies will get.

Commodities like copper, iron ore, steel and aluminum are expected to generate strong orders in the short and long term.

Alcoa closed Wednesday at $16.95, gaining $0.50, or 3.04 percent.

Caterpillar (CAT), Chevron (CVX), Exxon Mobil (XOM) Support Dow on Otherwise Dismal Day

The performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average would have been much worse than it was yesterday after shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) and the Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) company pulled the Dow down, as later in the session Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) moved up to offer some support to the index.

Chevron and Exxon moved up as the price of oil rose to over $101 a barrel. The energy sector was the only category ending Monday in the black, as crude prices rose.

Many other sectors and companies have significant exposure in Japan, including insurers like Aflac (NYSE:AFL) and uranium companies like Cameco (NYSE:CCJ).

Caterpillar closed Monday at $102.10, gaining $2.08, or 2.08 percent. Chevron closed at $100.80, up $0.87, or 0.87 percent. Exxon ended the session at $82.38, up $0.26, or 0.32 percent.

General Electric (GE), Disney (DIS) Pull Dow Down

With heavy exposure to the earthquake in Japan, General Electric (NYSE:GE) and Disney (NYSE:DIS) weighed heavy on the Dow, as it dropped to its lowest level in six weeks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 51.24 points, or 0.43%, to 11993.16, cutting trading losses earlier in Monday's session in half. Earlier in the day, the Dow plunged to its lowest intraday level in six weeks.

Performing the worst in the Dow Was General Electric, which dropped 2.2 percent, with Disney falling 1.6 percent.

General Electric's weakness is on their exposure to nuclear facilities in Japan. CEO Jeffrey Immelt said the company is ready to provide technical assistance to the Japanese government its nuclear energy joint-venture partner Hitachi Ltd.

Disney took a hit because of the closure of Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea theme parks. They are expected to be shuttered for at least 10 days after the earthquake.

General Electric closed Monday at $19.92, falling $0.44, or 2.16 percent. Walt Disney Co. closed at $42.24, down $0.69, or 1.61 percent.

Wal-Mart (WMT), Coca-Cola Co (KO) Limit Dow Damage

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 169.38 points, or 1.39 percent, to end Tuesday at 12,056.96. If not for Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) closing in postive territory, the damage would have been much worse.

Concerns that rising oil prices could hurt economic recovery prompted investors on Tuesday to sell stocks and hedge against further declines.

The CBOE Volatility Index VIX .VIX, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, jumped 13.1 percent to 20.75 on growing uncertainty about oil. The index measures the cost of using options as insurance against a decline in the S&P 500 .SPX index.

"We've been seeing how quickly the VIX can spike up, and there is no reason to believe that it won't double from where it is now," said Harry Rady, CEO of Rady Asset Management in San Diego, California.

Brent crude rose above $115 a barrel as supply disruptions persist and political violence spreads in the Middle East and North Africa. Higher oil translates into increased energy and gasoline costs for consumers.




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Alcoa (AA), Verizon (VZ), General Electric (GE) Pull Dow Down

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), Alcoa (NYSE:AA) and General Electric (NYSE:GE) are weighing on the Dow, as all three in earlier trading were down by over 2 percent or close to it, although they rebounded slightly since them.

Stocks in the U.S. dropped in response to the continuing upward surge in oil futures, along with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke comments.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average wasn't the only index falling, as the Nasdaq and Standard & Poor's 500 were down as well.

Bernanke hinted this phase of quantitative easing may be the last, as he sees economic growth as probably being self-sustaining.

Some see this as a negative, but most should be glad that Bernanke is even thinking about turning off the digital printing presses, as over the long term that is more harmful than the rest.

Boeing (BA) Gives Stocks a Boost

U.S. stocks advanced, snapping three consecutive days of losses, as shares of Boeing (NYSE:BA) surged and easing fears over supply helped crude-oil prices stabilize.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 47 points, or 0.4%, to 12116. Boosting the measure, Boeing climbed 2.3% after the Air Force awarded a $30 billion tanker deal to the company late Thursday.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) was also strong, rising 2.8%.

Stocks rebounding as oil flattens as investors catch their breath. GDP revision comes in weak, and the economy still faces a nasty mix of headwinds. Kathleen Madigan, Kristina Peterson and Paul Vigna report.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.2% to 2770. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 0.8% to 1316.

Helping to end the market's streak of losses, crude-oil futures stabilized as worries faded about supply shortages related to the unrest in Libya. Crude-oil prices hovered around $97 a barrel.

"We've seen some decent economic data in the consumer sentiment survey, [and] Saudi Arabia's announcement yesterday that they would meet any oil deficiency seems to have settled the markets quite a great deal," said Michael Farr, president of Farr, Miller & Washington. Investors were still eyeing oil closely for signs that energy costs could filter through in ways the market hasn't yet anticipated, Mr. Farr added.






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Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) Pulling Dow Down on JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) Downgrade

The downgrade of JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) on Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) continues to weigh on the Dow, which dropped by 16 points, or 0.1%, to 12,257.

JPMorgan said made their downgrade decision on seeing no short-term catalysts for the giant retailer.

The giant bank cut Wal-Mart from "Overweight" to "Neutral."

Wal-Mart was trading at $54.97, falling $0.72, or 1.29 percent, as of 1:14 PM EST.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) Boosts S&P 500, DJIA Estimates for 2011

Citigroup (NYSE:C) has come out swinging as a bull in the first trading day of 2011, with their latest projections a major increase in their estimates for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

For the Dow, they raised their 2011 target from 12,200 to 13,150, which would be about a 12 percent increase.

For the S&P 500, they jacked that up from 1,300 to 1400, a boost of about 11 percent.

The Dow and the S&P 500 soared to close out 2010, with the Dow soaring by 6.4 percent and the S&P 500 by 8 percent.

Exxon (NYSE:XOM) Helps Hold Dow, S&P from Further Decline

Investors continue to think in terms of safety and conservative investments, and other than gold, the blue-chips like Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) have drawn attention, and on Monday helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 from dropping even further.

The Dow ended the trading session down 39.21 points, or 0.4 percent, ending at 10,174.41, while the S&P 500 ended the day at 1,067.36, dropping 0.4 percent as well.

Exxon Mobil closed Monday at $59.50, gaining $0.61, or 1.04 percent. Their market cap remains over $300 billion, at $302.96 billion at the end of the session.

Even though gas prices seem poised to fall, a number of investors believe Exxon is undervalued, and will draw a lot more attention as the weakness of the economy becomes apparent to more people and institutions.

BP (NYSE:BP) Stock Prices Rise While Energy Stocks Decline

There is a sense of much relief that BP (NYSE:BP) is seeing success in their static kill attempt, causing stock prices to continue to rise. While energy stocks are on the decline.

BP's shares rose another 0.7 percent to $40.95, after the completion of the cementing of the Macondo well. After drawing a downgrade from J.P. Morgan, Transocean plummeted 3 percent to %56.34, after soaring 8 percent in the prior session.

Crude oil futures slide 1.2 percent to $80.98.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7 percent. With Exxon and Chevron decreasing 0.8 percent and 0.6 percent.

The NYSE Arca Oil Index dropped 0.9 percent to 1,020. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index fell 1.4 percent to 188. The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index also saw a decrease of 1.4 percent bringing it to 531.

Stocks Rise: Exxon (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), BP (NYSE:BP), Anadarko (NYSE:APC) All Up

Energy stocks saw a jump today, including Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), BP (NYSE:BP), and Anadarko (NYSE:APC). Exxon rose 1.7 percent on Thursday, causing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to rise 52 points.

Chevron rose 1.5 percent. Also providing a rise is crude oil futures with the July front running contract up to $73.23, a 37 cent increase.

BP, who has lost a total market value of $68 million saw an increase. BP went to $38.33, gaining 1.8 percent. This gain could be because of BP's success in fully cutting the pipe. Now they can proceed with trying to put the cap on it. Although, it is not a clean cut which is looking like it will cause problems, potentially making the cap not fit snug. If this is the case oil would still be leaking and a secondary cap would have to be put over top of the first one.

BP is planning on funding a project to put sand barriers around the wetlands in Louisiana, this will cost BP $360 million dollars. Even though this won't fully stop the oil, as there is already a considerable amount that is continuing to devastate Louisiana, the hope of this endeavor is to keep out the worst effects from the oil.

Finally, there is Anadarko who rose 1.2 percent to $44.89. They seem quite confident because they haven't changed their projection for 2010 on capital spending plans or their production outlook.

Exxon Mobil's (NYSE:XOM) Stock Continues To Fall

In German Trading, Exxon Mobil's (NYSE:XOM) stock continues to fall. With crude oil dropping below $70 a barrel in New York, this is the fifth day it has plummeted.

The biggest U.S. oil company, Exxon has dropped to $63.06 in German trading, that's a 0.8 percent loss. The third largest energy company, ConocoPhillips is at $55,32, losing 0.9 percent. The largest U.S. aluminum producer Alcoa, has also dropped to $12.14 losing 1.8 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 0.1 percent to 10,600. Nasdaq - 100 Index futures also fell less than 0.1 percent bringing it to 1,909.5.

The euro dropped today to the lowest level in over four years against the dollar. The currency was traded for as low as $1.2235. In Brussels, the European finance ministers will meet today.
They are under pressure to show how they are planning to reduce deficits quickly enough to satisfy investors.

Oil Prices Rise on Enthusiasm, not Fundamentals

Oil prices increased by $3.49 to end the session at $81.19 a barrel for November delivery, as leaders presented a unity to the world in an effort to shore up confidence in the global marketplace. Oil basically rose on that euphoria, rather than any change in fundamentals.

Brent North Sea crude in London gained close to light sweet crude in the U.S., as it increased by $3.37 a barrel to $77.46.

Even so, the slowing demand for oil hasn't changed, and nothing, other than the possibility that the emergency meeting by OPEC next month may result in resistance to downward price pressures, will stop the price of oil from continuing to fall. They would attempt to do that by lowering production levels.

If they were to do that, there would probably be significant international pressure for them to keep production levels close to where they are.

In other financial news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its highest one-day point gain in history, gold continues to fall, and the U.S. dollar fell against many major currencies, even though an unprecedented unlimited dollar fund auction will be held by the central banks of several nations.

Gold Falls as Illusion of Safety Permeates Investors

The attempted government bailouts around the world, along with announcements by major economic powers that they are going to prop up the failed global banking systems, has many investors seeing stars, while bringing the illusion of safety.

Those factors are keeping gold from moving upward over the last several days, and is putting downward pressure on the metal instead.

December delivery for gold dropped $16.50 to end the session at $842.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. This is the third straight trading day gold has fallen.

In an unprecedented move, some major central banks announced they'll be working together with the Federal Reserve to offer auctions for unlimited U.S. dollar funds. In the past the funds were capped. This is an attempt to ease up the credit crisis and put liquidity back into the market.

The Dow also enjoyed an expected rebound today, as it broke the all time record for a point gain in a day, surging by 936 points, finishing the day at 9387.61

With all the government interference across the world, gold will probably swing up and down in big ways from day to day, as the uncertainty and almost daily announcements by central banks and governments leave investors unsure where things will go.

Any smart investor should know that much of what is happening now are moves related more to PR than it is to practical help. It's to soothe the fears of people rather than make any true positive impact.

History has shown that government interference only prolongs the pain, not helps ease it.

Gold is ready on the sidelines waiting for any excuse for investors to run to it for safety. I don't think its run up is anywhere near over, but the interference in the market makes it much harder to measure.