• 05 Mar 2009 at 3:56 PM

What’s In A Dow?

winthorp2.pngIt’s almost like not paying your dues at the tennis club. First the furtive glances. Then the softer whispers. The loud whispers. The white envelope with your name written in red pen discovered one afternoon in your inbox. God forbid you take an arrest for securities fraud, or selling PCP. Security will finally toss you, puking up the Waldorf salad from earlier in the back of a paddy wagon after taking a few blows to the midsection.
That’s probably about how Citigroup, and a few others feel right about now. The exclusive club of the Dow is no longer for them and they are likely to be invited to leave eventually (don’t tazedelist us, bro!)

As Citi trades below $1, speculation again heats up that Citi, Bank of America and GM will almost certainly be removed from the Dow Industrials. Lists are being circulated for likely candidates.
Most often mentioned among financials: Mastercard or Visa, as well as some of the trust banks like Northern Trust or Bank of New York. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are also possible choices, but some seem to feel that they may politically unpalatable.

So, you tell us. Who’s in? Who else is out?
Citi Speculation Leads To: Who’s In The Dow Next? [CNBC]

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Comments (30)

  1. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:00 PM

    Campbell Soup, natch

  2. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:04 PM

    New on breakfast menus – the OctoMom Omelette.
    It has 14 eggs, no sausage and the guy next to you
    gets to pay for it.

  3. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:07 PM

    8 years of Bush: DJIA -21.8%
    44 days of Obama: DJIA -20.4%

  4. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:07 PM

    Today’s figures: 6,594.68 with -281.16 (-4.09%). Ouch indeed.
    Who’s out? Actually those who made -10% or worse today is a good start (look at the volumes!).

  5. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:12 PM

    Yes, the stock market is the ultimate measure of health in the U.S. economy…
    8 years of good old boys patronage, crumbling infrastructure, shitty schools = long-term pain
    Maybe we can LBO the economy and fix everything…

  6. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:13 PM

    I’m thinking no one here cares. At work I’m surrounded by people who last year had liquid net worths of low 8 figures minimum and are currently aching from having lost probably 40% of that. The babies here probably never had anything beyond the $25,000 they’ve managed to save in their 401k, so spend their day happily snarking all over DB. If anyone here has been humbled its probably from a job loss, so they’ve long left.

  7. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:16 PM

    5, but I saw the stock market being used as a measure of the health of the economy every single day during the recently concluded election season. Why an aversion to the metric all of a sudden?
    Oh, I see.
    Btw, you do realize that trying to solve healthcare and energy efficiency issues in the midst of a credit meltdown and asset deflation is not helping things, right?

  8. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:17 PM

    Las Vegas Sands

  9. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:18 PM

    #3 – your comment is meaningful only for efficient markets theorists. Those of us in the real world understand that markets are prone to bubbles and crashes, are often terrible about assessing underlying risk, and that what we are dealing with right now is basically a day of reckoning for the accumulated debt, negligence, and fraud of the last 25 years.

  10. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:19 PM

    3 Following that line of reasoning, if O is reelected and we come back here in 2017 and the Dow is up 21.8% from 1/20/09 you’ll conclude that O is 2x the president W was? You need to Google “end point sensitivity”.

  11. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:23 PM

    Where did all these Bush supporters and apologists come from? I can go for months on end and never hear such things. I guess people post things on message boards that would brand them freaks if said publicly.

  12. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:26 PM

    Per Matt Nesto, CNBC: AIG, ETFC, ODP, GNW, THC and C

  13. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:26 PM

    #9 has it right.
    To EP: I’ve never failed to pay my _Swim & Tennis Club fees. No envelopes with red ink.
    Advice to those who don’t/can’t pay their club fees:
    “Just be yourself, sir. Whatever happens, they can’t take that away from you.”

  14. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:33 PM

    There is only one clear choice:
    SHAM-WOW!!

  15. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:41 PM

    after thinking Long and Hard about this, drop C for RICK

  16. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:43 PM

    11, actually it is even more entertaining in person, especially when you can pinpoint the person prior utterances.
    For example, the Clinton era was supposed to be very prosperous as per Democrats. However, the subsequent recession is entirely neglected becaue it happened early under Bush’s watch. In that case, Bush was solely responsible for everything from day 1.
    People insisted that the 8 years of deliberate dismantling of all millitary and intelligence infrastructure, the failure to fully pursue the perpetrators of the 93 WTC bombings and USS Cole had nothing to do with 9/11. It was all George W. Bush’s fault.
    However, now people are going all the way back to 25 years to absolve the current president of ANY blame, notwithstanding the ridiculous course of action that has been taken in the midst of such a once in a generation crisis.
    Which is not to say that the above mentioned people do not have a point. However, them once arguing that nothing carries over and then arguing EVERYTHING carries over and the present incumbent has no influence is ironic indeed.
    Oh, btw you now do credit Bush with setting Iraq right, correct?

  17. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:44 PM

    @3
    # of Americans killed in Iraq
    8 years of Bush: 4255
    44 days of Obama: 24
    # of Iraquis killed: 90K-100K. Not that you give a shit.
    Yup, lets bring back the GOP (God’s Own Party).

  18. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:46 PM

    I had the most absurd nightmare. I was poor and no one liked me. I lost my job, I lost my house, Penelope hated me and it was all because of this terrible, awful Negro.

  19. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:50 PM

    @18- fantastic reference. Best Christmas movie ever.

  20. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:50 PM

    props to @18 on the Trading Places quote! (Bastard! I posted it in the next screed above……)

  21. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 4:56 PM

    I would add:
    DE LMT HOG NWS VIA
    Move Amazon over to big blue and add
    maybe Ebay too

  22. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 5:01 PM

    Yes, the stock market is the ultimate measure of health in the U.S. economy…
    8 years of good old boys patronage, crumbling infrastructure, shitty schools = long-term pain
    Maybe we can LBO the economy and fix everything…

  23. Posted by Anal_yst | March 5, 2009 at 5:04 PM

    LBO ideas are starting to sound like a good plan, perhaps we can convince the Somali Pirates to join-in as co-investors in all of the deals, being that they’re the only ones with an expanding (A-side) of the balance sheet these days…

  24. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 5:04 PM

    Penelope, I am NOT an angel dust dealer!

  25. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 5:28 PM

    In:
    1. US Treasury
    2. Wideclops, Inc.
    3. A. Duprey Consulting Services
    4. Rick’s Cabaret (RICK)

  26. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 5:34 PM

    Who has been putting out their Kools on my floor?! I said who’s been putting their Kools out on my floor.. It’s Persian..!!

  27. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 7:55 PM

    9 & 13: Go home.

  28. Posted by guest | March 5, 2009 at 8:22 PM

    Oh, see, I made Timmy a bet here. See, Timmy bet me that we couldn’t both get rich and put the Republicans in the poor house at the same time. He didn’t think we could do it. I won.
    The bums lost, condolences!!!!!!!!

  29. Posted by merkin capital partners | March 6, 2009 at 1:13 AM

    @17 correct, we don’t. What is an Iraquis? I think you’re thinking of the Iroquois, perhaps from the Indian in the Cupboard. Damn good books.
    Forget the Dow, look at the SPX, top 10 mkt cap > bottom 350.

  30. Posted by Chuck Krug | March 6, 2009 at 7:25 AM

    MA

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