8/11/08 Market Shows Modest Gains as Oil Prices Drop

The trading week got off to a good start as the Dow closed up 47.46 at 11781.78; while NASDAQ gained 25.85 to close at 2439.95 and the S&P closed at 1305.29 up 8.97. Oil dropped .5% to 114.62 a barrel. The financial sector was up due to the Fed announcing that over the past three months domestic lenders have tightened their lending requirements. Retail sector was strong led by Amazon (AMZN) up 7.54 to 88.05 on favorable reports that their electronic book reader, Kindle, had strong sales. Walmart (WMT 58.49 +.63) will be announcing quarterly earnings later this week along with several department stores. That's it for today from the land of the peaches.