8/8/08 Market Closes With Strong Gains Due to Lower Oil Prices

The Dow closed up 302.89 at 11734.32; NASDAQ gained 58.37 to close at 2414.10 & the S&P closed at1296.32 up 30.25 because of several items of good news. Oil dropped below $115 per barrel while the dollar gained as the dollar index was up 1.8%. Financial sector enjoyed a good day with Merrill Lynch (MER) gaining .77 to close at 26.86, Bank of America (BAC) gaining .73 to close at 32.25 and MBIA (MBI) closing at 8.57, gaining .29. An exception was Fannie Mae (FNM) which lost .90 to close at 9.05 due to a wider than expected loss and due to its cutting its quarterly dividend from .25 to .05. Have a great weekend from the land of the peaches.