- Market Commentary -

February 25, 2010 (FinancialWire) (By Bob Farley) — President Obama is set to pitch health care again, and companies like Humana (NYSE: HUM), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), and Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) will be watching to see how it washes out, as will the population who trades stock in those companies or who depend on the car provided by their products.

One has to wonder how long the fight to save health-care reform will go on before a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) tag is appended to the chart. The only people who want it are the few million who can’t afford or choose not to afford health insurance, and a few liberals branded socialists. The time to cut the losses and ride on into the sunset must be coming soon.

But for now, the issue keeps coming back, just like herpes outbreaks, to irritate politicians scared of losing their cushy jobs and benefits, not to mention Mom and Pop “I’ve Been Working My Butt Off For My Insurance, So Why Don’t You Get A Job That Pays, You Loser.” (It will be interesting to see which one is cured/solved first–herpes or health care.)

At least the bickering makes for entertaining news bites in between blurbs on bailouts, the falling housing market, and the tepid jobs environment.

[Go to http://www.financialwire.net/?s=bob+farley to see more commentaries and articles by Bob Farley.]

FirstAlert(tm) “Money Index” is an indicator of the depth of market direction or indirection. While not always including the same stocks, the NYSE/NASDAQ/AMEX 25 Most Actives and NYSE/NASDAQ/AMEX greatest Percentage Losers and Percentage Winners (weighted against pure monetary loss/gain) indicate the direction in which the mass of money is flowing, as well as the general focus of the market. Of last session’s Greatest Percentage Winners, stocks making the greatest monetary gains were led by Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ: SLXP) trading on volume of 2,666,831 (gaining $238.9 million), FedFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: FFCO) trading on volume of 30,025 shares (gaining $10.2 million) and Sterling Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: STSA) trading on volume of 341,706 shares (gaining $5.5 million).  Of last session’s Greatest Percentage Losers, stocks taking the greatest monetary losses were led by H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) trading on volume of 5,420,000 shares (losing $808.7 million), Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) trading on volume of 2,524,500 shares (losing $268.4 million) and STEC, Inc. (NASDAQ: STEC) trading on volume of 10,455,561 shares (losing $149.6 million).  Of the Most Actives, last session’s trading showed 19 advancers versus 6 decliners. Volume leaders were led by Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) trading 44,303,200 shares closing at $3.45 (up 3.0%), the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) trading 36,904,570 shares closing at $110.82 (up 0.9%) and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) trading 34,607,800 shares closing at $16.33 (up 2.4%).  The complete chart for the FirstAlert(tm) Money Index Synopsis is provided by StockSmart.com, and is accessible via Investrend’s dedicated Stock Smart NYSE-NASDAQ-AMEX Summary webpage (at http://www.investrend.com/fa-index). Go to http://www.financialwire.net/?s=%22%27Money+Index%27+Synopsis for all the most recent FirstAlert(tm) “Money Index” Synopses.

The FirstAlert(tm) Economics Calendar lists Durable Goods Orders for January (8:30 a.m.), Initial Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m.), Fed Chairman Bernanke testifies before Senate Banking (9 a.m.), FHFA Housing Price Index for December (10 a.m.), Treasury auctions 7-year notes (1 p.m.).

The FirstAlert(tm) Events Calendar showcases CAT at UBS Industrial Conference; CECO, CPLA, APEI, HURN at Baird Business Solutions Conference; COF, SNV, WAL, BOKF at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Regional Bank Conference; CRM, CTXS, NFLX, TXN at Goldman Sachs Technology Conference; CUTR, EW, GIVN at Lazard Capital Markets Medical Device Conference; EM, MCK at Oppenheimer & Co. Healthcare Information Technology 1-on-1 Conference; EXTR at Conference ConCepts Ethernet Technology Summit; HRBN, NPO, WTS, FLOW at Gabelli & Company, Inc. Pump, Valve and Motor Symposium; IMGN Investment Community Meeting; JNPR, WBSN, CRM, QCOM at Pacific Crest Emerging Technology Summit; JPM Investor Day; PKG, IP, SEE at Credit Suisse Group Paper & Packaging Conference; Q Analyst Meeting; X, DOW, MOS, MON at Morgan Stanley Global Basic Materials Conference.

FirstAlert(tm) Website of the Day: http://www.meadowlarklemon.org

Quote of the Day: “The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it’s the same problem you had last year.” John Foster Dulles

Today is: National Chili Day, Ta’Anit Ester.

Happy Birthday: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, John Foster Dulles, Zeppo Marx, Jim Backus, Bobby Riggs, Ralph Stanley, Larry Gelbart, Tommy Newsom, Faron Young, Sally Jessy Raphaël, Bob Schieffer, George Harrison, Ric Flair, Carrot Top, Téa Leoni, Sean Astin.

Today in History: George Washington held the first Cabinet meeting as President of the United States in 1793. Samuel Colt received an American patent for the Colt revolver in 1836. The first practical electric motor in the U.S. was patented in 1837 by Thomas Davenport. Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, was sworn into the United States Senate in 1870, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress. J.P. Morgan incorporated the United States Steel Corporation in 1901. Oregon placed a one-cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline in 1919, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve was established in Alaska in 1925. Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, DC became in 1928 the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission.

[FirstAlert(tm) was created by Gayle Essary, founder of Investrend Communications, Inc., parent of Investrend Information. The opinions expressed in FirstAlert(tm) do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Investrend.]

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