Texas Instruments (TXN - commentary - Cramer's Take) dropped a bomb last night, but the world markets failed to notice (more about Texas Instruments below). Likewise, our stock-index futures were higher for a good part of the evening, though they sagged a bit as the casino prepared to open for business. No sooner did the market open, however, than it scooted to the upside, as bad news was ignored and prior losses were erased.
Dear-Diary Defense: That said, bad news continues to hound Freddie Mac (FRE - commentary - Cramer's Take), now the subject of a formal investigation by the SEC and a criminal probe by the U.S. attorney. The company went out of its way to say this was related to the diaries of COO David Glenn. I don't see how anyone can know if that's the sole cause, but I guess the fact that initially, Freddie was down only 50 cents on the back of the news emboldened revelers. It was certainly heartening to housing revelers, as those stocks were all up 3% to 4% in the early going.
After the early-morning surge, the market spent the next few hours flopping and chopping in kind of a narrow range. Then, with a couple hours to go, we mounted a mighty charge to the upside, the results of which you see in the box scores. Housing stocks were the clear-cut winner today, as they continued their early advance by exploding to the tune of roughly 6% to 8%, with many making new highs. Financials, too, had a pretty good day, as did biotech. Today, the SOX played skunk at the speculation party, but I guess they can try to rectify that tomorrow.
Away from stocks, there was a good deal of action. Fixed income was slightly lower, after having been a bit firmer. The dollar was hit pretty hard vs. the euro, and unchanged vs. the yen. Gold popped about 1%, as did silver. Oil continued its deflation-inspired collapse, up 63 cents to $32.36.
William Fleckenstein is the president of Fleckenstein Capital, which manages a hedge fund based in Seattle. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney, including Mr. Fleckenstein, may, from time to time, write about securities in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. At time of publication, Fleckenstein Capital was short IBM, long IBM puts, although positions can change at any time. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. The views and opinions expressed in Mr. Fleckenstein's columns are his own and not necessarily those of TheStreet.com. While Mr. Fleckenstein cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column to bfleckenstein@thestreet.com.
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