8/21/08 Dow Up A Bit on Mixed News & Oil Goes Up

The Dow closed today at 1430.21 up 12.78; S&P was up 3.18 to close at 1277.72 & NASDAQ closed at 2380.38 down 8.70 the bad news is oil closed up 5.62 at above $121.18 per barrel, the highest in 2 weeks. Also the dollar was down 1.1% to buy .67090 of Euros (one Euro buys $1.49054 in dollars). Good news was the initial jobless claim for the week ended Aug 16 was 432,000, which was a decrease of 13,000 from the earlier week. Limted Brands (LTD 20.28 up 2.31) and H.J. Heinz (HNZ 51.99 up .28) exceeded earnings expectations. Financials were weak. Merrill Lynch (MER 24.34 down .07) and Lehman Brothers (LEH 13.72 down .01) had down days as did Goldman Sachs (GS 156.42 down 1.83) and Morgan Stanley (MS 37.06 down .34). Intel (INtC 23.05 down .34) and Apple (AAPL 174.29 down 1.55) also were down. Of course, Exxon Mobil (XOM 80.35 up 1.54) and ConocoPhillips (COP 85.05 up 4.20) had good days. The 10 year Treasury Note was down .28 to push the yield to3.83. That is it today from the deep south.