Share this story | Print this story

In the Face of Falling Oil Prices

Tuesday Jan 16, 2007

Do we really have a credit problem?

Market Trends
Do we really have a credit problem? It would seem so.

While Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC:NYSE) was one of the leaders of the fourth-quarter announcement pack, and reported a revenue gain of 13%, there’s one piece of their announcement that’s telling…

“Profit rose… 64 percent to $161 million at Wells Fargo Financial, which lends to less creditworthy people.” 

Even though that’s good news for Wells Fargo, it’s bad news for our society’s financial situation.

Regardless, WFC is one of the first major money centers to announce fourth-quarter earnings. And the trend for the industry already looks positive.

On the morning, WFC has already surpassed both the 10-day and 50-day Moving Averages it was sitting below just yesterday.

Click here to continue reading.

Material Profits
Oil services and some producers are up slightly today, and this in the face of falling oil prices:

ConocoPhillips (COP:NYSE) up 0.63%...
Chevron (CVX:NYSE) up 0.28%...
Tidewater, Inc. (TDW:NYSE) up 1.89%.

OPEC is mulling over whether or not to hold an emergency meeting to further trim production, but it seems like some oil stocks are shrugging of this bearish news. Can they hold out for the rest of the day and end with a gain?

If they can, it could signal support within the sector, and that's a bit of good news.