Bailout Beggars Find Relief On Black Friday
November 28, 2008 by Tisa Silver
Filed under Finance
Most people expected thin trading during today’s shortened session and for the most part they were right, but a few bailout beggars saw huge gains and higher than average trading volume.
Today’s session closed at 1 p.m. EST, but that was more than enough time for Ford and Citigroup to earn the top spots for trading volume (this only includes individual stocks, not ETFs).
Ford rose 25 percent today, over 119 million shares were exchanged. According to Yahoo, the average daily volume (using three months worth of data) for shares of Ford is about 73.7 million. Citigroup rose 12.6 percent and saw 251 million shares traded versus its average of 193.8 million shares.
According to Google Finance, the third most active stock was Fannie Mae (FNM). Fannie has had a tough couple of weeks. On 11/18, FNM was notified by the NYSE that the company’s common stock may be delisted. On 11/25, the company announced the appointment of a new CFO. On 11/26, FNM advised the New York Stock Exchange that it has a plan to meet listing standards (the company’s stock will get the boot in May 2009, if the stock price doesn’t stabilize above $1 for thirty consecutive days). Today, 98 million shares of Fannie Mae moved and the stock shot up 63 percent!
Citi and Fannie are already bailout beneficiaries, but I don’t know what to make of these big gains. Perhaps Ford will join the club next week after execs from the Big 3 return to Capitol Hill for a second round of begging.
A tip for the beggars: Why not show up in one of the cars you make instead of a corporate jet?
Do you think the buying Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac stock would be wise??…It’s just so cheap right now….
Do you think that buying Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac stock would be wise??…It’s just so cheap right now….Not sure that when the housing market rebounds, if these stocks will rise back to respectable levels…
Hi Jamal,
I’m skeptical of both. In the long run, they aren’t going anywhere, but in the short run they are both in for a rough ride. Fannie has already been alerted to the possibility of being delisted by the NYSE, so my guess is that Freddie isn’t too far behind. The bailout made equity in both firms virtually worthless and until the benefits of the bailout start to be seen, I wouldn’t touch either unless I was 1) highly speculative (and actively trading) or 2) could afford to forget about the cash for a couple of years.
Well, I’m neither 1 nor 2…I’m just looking for some good opportunities in the market…while things are so bad…lol