Well its Friday night and I was just about to head out but thought I would summarize this horrible day on the market really quick (sorry!)

Today was a bad day on the market for many reasons, we saw the S&P 500 and Dow both have their worst January in history. Many were expect this month to hit a rally, but again, with panic and bad news all over the media, there isnt much incentive to invest. Full Article.

The GDP was an important number that was expected on Friday to be low, but to be the lowest in 27 years was another piece of bad news. Full Article. Job cuts, slowing economy show weak spending and negative growth which is hurting the US economy. For those that are wondering what GDP is, its Gross Domestic Product, which show market prices of the goods and services during a specified period of time (usually quarterly). The GDP includes personal consumption, government spending, private investments, exports, manufacturing and corporate production. Calculation of this number is pretty complex, but a higher number than previous quarter or year is what countries aim for to show growth.

There were a few other pieces of news, (XOM) beat its own record to post the biggest revenue in history. As a person that has mentioned Exxon many times, it was odd that the stock did not sustain its rally during the day. Some of it can be linked to the broader market sell off. Regardless, (XOM) was one of the rare companies able to make some money. Another was Amazon (AMZN) which shot up after a super strong holiday shopping season. They easily beat earnings and the stock was up all day.

For me, I made no trades today. I looked at the financial stocks and could not see any rally building. The stock should fall further with all the new news coming for this bailout and “bad bank”. Some don’t see its positive, while others are taking profits before final news from Obama comes out. Its really uncharted territory for all with current economic times as they are.

Here is a really cool analysis was given on Bloomberg on Friday. There are some sector recommendations to invest in as well as professional insight where the market could possibly be headed:

Since its the end of the month, I will try at some point post all my gains and losses. I’m actually pretty amazed at the growth this month. Its not normally as profitable but hey, who needs to complain!? Hopefully you all prospered in the first month of the year. Each day there are new stocks to profit off so keep at it!

Happy Investing!

Aman, MBA

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