Carspal

The New York Times’s Jack Healy reported today that the first full trading week of 2009 began with a fluctuation on Wall Street. Big Stock markets problems have as auto companies posted double-digit sales declines for December and oil prices rose.
The Dow Jones industrial average decreased below 9,000 to close at 8,952.89, down 81.80 points, or 0.91 percent. However, even with Wall Street Monday’s problems, the US markets have been making incremental gains over the last month, adding to the hopes of investors that Wall Street could be turning a corner, even if the recession continues to drag on.
“It’s a different year but the same problems,” said Stuart Schweitzer, global strategist at J. P. Morgan Private Bank.

“The current situation brings the risk that this could be just another bear market rally. History is replete with exactly such patterns of markets going up and getting knocked back down.”
Shares of Ford Motor and General Motors finished higher after the Big Three automakers announced their worst sales totals in nearly 50 years. While the figures were bleak, analysts had been bracing for even worse reports. Shares of Ford rose 12 cents, to $2.58, while G.M. gained 6 cents, to $3.71. Ford reported its sales sank 32 percent in December, while G.M. announced a drop of 31 percent. Chrysler said that its sales plummeted 53 percent last month.