NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Bad from the get-go on Monday. The news was all about the yen/dollar, as in the dollar getting weaker vs. the yen. Interestingly, this sparked a big drop in the Nikkei because a strong yen hurts Japanese exporters.
A declining dollar spurred a selloff here because a falling greenback means that foreigners would fare poorly investing in U.S. stocks. The Dow fell 109 to 9,535, while the NAZ was off 31 to 1,874. Also, as Jack Cafferty reminded me on air, the market's gone up awfully far awfully fast. Why do I think this will be a bad week?
Hey watch me, Andre Maginot (He built a line of forts and the Germans just went around them. The Germans built a line of forts in Normandy and we went through them. Lines of forts don't work.) I mean Andy Serwer, on CNN's "American Morning," and "In the Money." Read Loose Change to find out about guitars and Al Franken!
STOCKYARD Will the twin deficits (budget and trade) and the weak dollar be what does in our "nifty little recovery" as one informed observer termed it? Could be. You always get blasted by what you didn't anticipate!...
"Wal-Mart Sales Near High End of Forecast." Again. Stock still fell given the overall market...
One stock that bucked the trend: Motorola. The ultimate CEO nightmare -- stock goes up on news of your departure. That's what happened today to MOT, which climbed over 9 percent on news that Chris Galvin would step down.
We pick up Reuters from there: "At least five analysts upgraded their ratings on the stock of the world's second-largest maker of cell phones, citing hope among investors the company could be broken up. Galvin, who said Friday he would leave when a successor is named, has long resisted selling businesses at the company his grandfather founded and his father led." MOT made the announcement after the bell Friday...
Bonds were battered today, too...
EMI looking to dance with Warner Music? Good luck! Norah Jones meets Madonna?...Red Hat was up today...Three most actives? QQQ on the Amex (down), MSFT on the NAZ (down) and the aforementioned MOT...
Only four Dow stocks up: T, Coca-Cola, Kodak, MMM (at $142!!). HPQ was the biggest loser, falling 4 percent...
When was the last time you listened to "Chestnut Mare," by Roger McGuin, "Obby-dooby" by Credence, or "Dazed and Confused," by Zeppelin? Just asking...
JOHN S. REED The new interim head of the NYSE is kind of, how shall I say this, a different guy. Mostly in a positive sense. I mean, he is certainly not a glad-handing B.S. artist. No backslapping, PowerPoint, big grin guy. He is serious and not warm and fuzzy.
He ran Citi when it hit the wall after Wriston, built the consumer business into the juggernaut it is today. He is the man who brought us the ATM. Likes tech stuff. Introspective. Will be interesting to see what he thinks of the specialists system, and an IPO, and the board. Or maybe he's just there to find a new head. (Right, Larry Fink???)
Or it could be that Reed will become the permanent head? Who knows? Before getting an undergraduate degree from MIT, he picked up a B.A. from Washington and Jefferson College, in Washington, PA. Who knows anything about that place???
WASHINGTON POWER Spoke with Mother Street down in Maryland and things sound pretty lousy down there, and I haven't seen a damn word about it in the media! (Damn media!)
Ma lost power because of Isabel Thursday night. Trees and power lines down all over the place. Government's closed. Schools are closed. Still no power at the house and many other places, and word is she won't have electricity back until maybe FRIDAY! Holy smoke!!
So all her food is gone -- stove is gas, so she can cook pasta and canned soup. She's tried to drive out to restaurants, but many are closed (no power), and the traffic lights aren't all up, so it's dangerous for her. The power company says the problem isn't the lines, it's the trees. They can't fix the lines until all the trees are cut and they don't have enough tree cutters. (Lots of out-of-state teams coming.)
Long lines at the hardware store. They sold out of all batteries once, got more, and then sold out again. (Good news for Rayovac and Duracell!) They were giving away dry ice, but the factory in Baltimore is tapped out. Amazing stuff, no?!?...
By the way, up in NYC, ConEd is offering to pay customers whose food spoiled in the blackout. What a nightmare!
Loose Change
AF gave me Al Franken's book. Damn funny! Destroyed my faith in Ann Coulter forever. Mee-yow!!!...
Blue-Eyed Soul: Who was the best? I've got Hall & Oates, George Michael, Tom Jones... who else?...
Guitarland: Re: Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitar Players of All Time, Ricky says these musicians should be on the list, too: Amos Garrett, Al Anderson, Carl Perkins, Willie Nelson, Walter Becker, Albert Collins, Robert Cray, Bob Mould, Johnny Thunders, and Nils Lofgren.
More corrections: Zappa is "way too low," Ricky says. "He established his distinctive sound and did so in front of his fans -- i.e. he evolved into a great player throughout his career so that at a certain point (Roxy and Elsewhere) he was a bona fide guitar monster. He just kept getting better and better and better. An awesome guitarist." Beautiful, Rick, thanks for the real time and thought....
Thirty years ago last Friday, 9/19/73 at the Joshua Tree Inn, Cecil Ingram Connors died of an overdose of morphine and alcohol. RIP, Gram.
Andrew Serwer is editor-at-large of Fortune magazine.
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