Tag: Stock Market

US Brokerage Websites Perform Poorly to High Trading Activity

Can brokerage websites handle massive customer visits?

Tuesday was a bad day for the websites of several US brokerage firms. In the wake of Monday’s record stock market drop of 1,175 points, several websites either crashed or operated painfully slowly as customers took action the following day.

Fidelity said late Tuesday morning that they finally overcame what were intermittent technical glitches on its website. Earlier that morning customers were greeted with the following message when they tried to access Fidelity’s website: “Our homepage is temporarily unavailable but don’t worry, we’re working quickly to fix this problem.”

Visitors to the Ameritrade website saw this message on Tuesday: “Due to volatile market conditions we are currently experiencing slowness on our web platform.” The company recommended customers try a mobile app or other related company website for information or access.

The social media platform Twitter hosted complaints from those trying to get into the Merrill Edge website which is operated by Bank of America. A spokesman issued the following statement: “Our systems remain operational. Some clients reported slowness logging into My Merrill and Merrill Edge due to unprecedented trading volume.”

Monday’s crash was the largest point drop in stock market history. On Tuesday the market opened down an additional 500 points but rallied during the first half hour of trading to climb back into positive territory. By noon on Tuesday the market was up by 52 points.

Back in November Fidelity experienced some down time on their website that disallowed customers from reaching their online accounts. The company offered free trades by way of compensation.

On Monday several brokerages experienced temporary issues of sluggishness on their websites, such as T.Rowe Price and TD Ameritrade. The issues were quickly resolved.

US Stocks Rise as Central Banks Consider Joint Efforts

The thought of American and European central banks joining China to boost the economy has triggered the best weekly gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since last year.

In fact, all ten of the index’s stock groups rose this week, adding almost 5%. Though Facebook continued its three-week slide, Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Home Depot were two companies who reported significant gains.

Altogether, the S&P 500 climbed 3.7% to 1,325.66, a large improvement to last week’s 3% slump. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose to 12,554.20.

“The optimism comes from the belief that there is going to be some kind of coordinated activity from central banks,” said Mariner Wealth Advisors’ Bill Greiner.

“The question in my mind is how close to the edge do the world of investors have to move before the central banks start to move in the direction that they need to,” he added.

Stocks Rise 3 Percent on Good News from Federal Reserve

Tuesday’s market performed positively as fears of new US Federal Reserve capital proposals turned out to be misplaced.

Three Diverse Sectors Climbed

Investors fueled the rally with support for the banking sector, home-builders and networking companies, although analysts admit that the market’s upward climb was amplified by relatively low volume.

The stock market realized a 3% rise as the banking sector, which was already gaining points due to the US Federal Reserve’s new capital proposals ended up being not as bad as had been feared, inspired further support.

Banking

The happy stats for the banking sector are as follows: The KBW Banks index jumped 4.1%; JP Morgan Chase & Co jumped 5% to $32.22; and Wells Fargo & Co rallied 4.6% ending at $26.47 per share.

Matt McCormick, one of Cincinnati-based Bahl & Gaynor’s money managers commented that,

“Investors have been looking for clarity on the regulatory outlook, and I don’t think these rules are so strict that we should expect anything like significant dividend cuts.”

Home Builders

Gains were also realized based on positive figures for the housing figures: The Dow Jones home construction index climbed 6%, with the nation’s second largest home builder, Pultegroup, up 10%; and MDC Holding rising by 7.3%.

Networking

The diversified sectors which supported the impressive gain were completed by networking companies.

Ever since 1969 the S&P 500 has gone up by an average of 1.6% during the last five days and the first two days of the year, according to data from the Stock Trader’s Almanac. This fact is known as the Santa Claus rally.

The general outlook for stocks was good as about 86% of stocks traded on the NYSE closed higher, while about 80% of NASDAQ stocks ended the day in positive territory.