Market Midday, with news on the companies MasterCard (NYSE:MA), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), AIG (NYSE:AIG), Visa (NYSE:V)

We at Oakshire Financial hope that, while you’re reading this, you’re not stranded at the airport (Or worse, the in-laws!).  Rumor has it that some travelers stranded by the Christmas blizzard in the US could be stuck where they are until after New Years; we hope you don’t share their fate.  We’ll start this market update with some banking news.  Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) continues its weeklong ascent today, its share price having risen nearly 1.4% at the time of writing.

This is despite a reported DDoS attack on the banks website yesterday by Internet activists, who are infuriated by the corporation’s suspension of payments to controversial website WikiLeaks.  These activists were successful earlier this month in shutting down the websites of credit card companies MasterCard (NYSE:MA) and Visa (NYSE:V), who both also suspended their payments to WikiLeaks.

In overall market news, today has been a rather neutral day for the three major US indexes, despite a strong opening.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average has recovered slightly from an earlier dip, and now sits just 1 point down (0.01%) from yesterday’s closing numbers.  The S&P 500 has also recovered from the dip, which occurred at approximately 10:30am after a strong opening.  At the time of writing, the index has fallen just 0.43 points (a 0.03% fall).  The Nasdaq has faired best today, having gained 4.5 points (a 0.17% increase) so far today.

The markets’ strong opening numbers are directly related to the initial numbers for the holiday shopping season, which are starting to roll in.  If estimates turn out to be true, then this year will beat even 2007 in sales.  Retail sales from November 5^th to December 24^th rose to $584 billion, a 4.1% rise from last year.  Post-Christmas numbers are expected to be strong enough to make this the largest shopping season on record.

The market’s decline into an essentially neutral day is likely due to continuing apprehension over the economic recovery process, which continues to weight heavy on the minds of investors. The Case-Shiller 20-city home price index for October was released today, and data showed that home prices in these major urban areas fell 0.8% in the month.  Economists were anticipating a 0.1% increase.  The index also revised the previous month’s numbers; September home prices rose only 0.4%, 0.2% less than previously estimated.  Also weighing on the minds of investors is the consumer confidence level.  According to the Conference Board’s index, consumer confidence fell to 52.5 this month, a 1.8 point drop from November.  Economists had anticipated a rise of a couple points.

Finally for the day, AIG (NYSE:AIG) share prices have come back to earth after a huge opening.  It is estimated that the insurance giant will be receiving as much as $3 billion from the sale of its Taiwanese life insurance business.  The share price for the company soared nearly 2% in early trading, but has since declined back to a more modest 0.1% gain on yesterday’s closing price.

That’s all for the day!  We’ll see you tomorrow, loyal readers!