Plan your investment in the next one year

It seems that returns from equities is a distance dream however gold and silver are at record highs and inflation is eating into fixed-income returns; now maybe as good a time as any to rethink your asset allocation.

While overall asset allocation should be a function of age and financial goals, equities are expected to emerge as outperformers over the next 12 months, according to experts.

Locking in returns at high interest rates would help get reasonably decent returns in the fixed income space, while gold is being advised as a hedge rather than a major component of a portfolio.

The stock market has outperformed after a year of underperformance in recent times. This trend is expected to repeat itself with a bounce back in the next year.

 A correction in oil prices is good for the Indian economy and one could expect significant returns in equities over the next 12 months.

The Sensex, an index whose movements represent the state of the markets for the Bombay Stock Exchange, was up 81.03% in 2009 after falling 52.45% in 2008.

It has fallen 3778.15 points, or 18.42%, since January this year.

Goldman Sachs put out a report on August 8 with a one-year target of 6600 on the Nifty, the benchmark for the National Stock Exchange. 

This implies a 28.76% upside from Tuesday’s closing level of 5125.75 on the Nifty or 16730.94 on the Sensex.

On the fixed-income side, experts said a peaking of interest rates bodes well for locking in returns in fixed deposits or investing in debt mutual funds.

Under the present circumstances it is advisable to invest in debt mutual funds as against fixed deposits as they are more tax-efficient.

Also, dynamic bond funds could be expected to do well over the next one year as they are best placed to take advantage of the change in interest rate cycle.

Investing in a fixed deposit one year ago would have given you a return of 7.25%, today it gives 9.25% before tax.

Debt mutual fund returns could give higher, with some experts predicting double-digit returns of 10%-13% over the next one year.

Gold and other precious metals have had a great run over the last one year.

The yellow metal returned 40.13%, while silver has more than doubled (102.44%).

Analysts do not expect the same stellar performance now, unless there is a repeat of the global uncertainty that resulted in people fleeing to the safe haven.

Precious metals would be better off as a hedge than a major part of one’s portfolio, experts said.

Precious metals could be expected to give returns of 2-3% over the prevailing inflation rate. One should allocate 10-12% of investible money to the category.

On Tuesday, gold was trading at Rs26,155 per 10 grams and silver at Rs60,145 per kilo, according to data from the Bombay Bullion Association.

Cash with investors at a 30-month high

Cash holdings with global investors touched their highest levels in the last two-and-a-half years following a drastic fall in risk appetite on fears of recession and slowdown in corporate earnings.

A global fund manager survey carried out by Bank of America Merrill Lynch last week suggests cash balances rose to 5.2% — the highest since March 2009 and just a tad below extreme levels seen during previous downturn in December 2008.

Even so, investors remain bullish on emerging market (EM) equities.

Despite the shift away from risk, EM allocations remain remarkably stable and EM has become the single overweight region for global investors.

A net 27% are overweight EM, down slightly from 33% last month. The improving outlook on China can partly explain stable EM allocations.

Among the sectors preferred, EM investors continue to like consumer-oriented sectors with consumerdiscretionary and staple the biggest overweight. 

The cyclical sectors like energy and materials are big underweight.

The income effect and demographics effect along with less impact of slowdown on these stocks works in favour of consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors like FMCG, pharma and two wheeler automotives.

According to survey, the most favoured markets among EM investors are Indonesia, Russia, China and South Africa (+13).

India remains among the least favoured despite the correction. For India, inflation has been a concern and there may be slowdown in earnings in the near term as well.

However as and when commodity prices come down, we would see inflation cooling off and pause in monetary policy tightening. One needs to keep an eye on oil prices.

Lokpal Bill

The Lokpal will be a three-member body with a chairperson who is or was a chief justice or Supreme Court judge, and two members who are or have been high courts judges or chief justices.

Implementation of the Lokpal bill will hopefully reduce corruption in India.
The basic idea of the Lokpal is borrowed from the office of the ombudsman in other countries.

It provides for filing complaints of corruption against the prime minister, other ministers and members of parliament with the ombudsman.

Anyone, except for a public servant, can file a complaint and the Lokpal has to complete the inquiry within six months.For 42 years, governments have tried to put in place the law.

The bill was for the first time presented during the fourth Lok Sabha in 1968, and was passed there in 1969. However, the Lok Sabha was dissolved, resulting in the first death of the bill.It was revived in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2008.

In September 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government would lose no time in enacting the bill. Nevertheless, strong lobbies blocked it.

The bill's supporters consider existing laws too weak and insufficiently enforced to stop corruption

Key features of proposed bill

1.     To establish a central government anti-corruption institution called Lokpal, supported by Lokayukta at the state level.

2.     As in the case of the Supreme Court and Cabinet Secretariat, the Lokpal will be supervised by the Cabinet Secretary and the Election Commission. As a result, it will be completely independent of the government and free from ministerial influence in its investigations.

3.     Members will be appointed by judges, Indian Administrative Service officers with a clean record, private citizens and constitutional authorities through a transparent and participatory process.

4.     A selection committee will invite shortlisted candidates for interviews, video recordings of which will thereafter be made public.

5.     Every month on its website, the Lokayukta will publish a list of cases dealt with, brief details of each, their outcome and any action taken or proposed. It will also publish lists of all cases received by the Lokayukta during the previous month, cases dealt with and those, which are pending.

6.     Investigations of each case must be completed in one year. Any resulting trials should be concluded in the following year, giving a total maximum process time of two years.

7.     Losses caused to the government by a corrupt individual will be recovered at the time of conviction.

8.     Government office work required by a citizen that is not completed within a prescribed time period will result in Lokpal imposing financial penalties on those responsible, which will then be given as compensation to the complainant.

9.     Complaints against any officer of Lokpal will be investigated and completed within a month and, if found to be substantive, will result in the officer being dismissed within two months.

10. The existing anti-corruption agencies (CVC, departmental vigilance and the anti-corruption branch of the CBI) will be merged into Lokpal , which will have complete power and authority to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.

11. Whistleblowers who alert the agency to potential corruption cases will also be provided with protection by it.

Inflation dip fails to mask worry

As per chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu inflation was expected to peak at 10 per cent in August but decline thereafter — which more or less ties in with the RBI’s forecast that it would stay around the current levels of just over 9 per cent at least till the end of the second quarter which ends on September 30.

Basu’s statement came after the CSO authorities announced that headline inflation had dipped to an eight-month low of 9.22 per cent in July as the rate of price rise in food articles and petro-products had eased though pressure remained on manufactured items.

In addition, overall inflation figure for May this year was revised upward to 9.56 per cent from the provisional estimate of 9.06 per cent.

However, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said the inflationary pressures could ease because of the strong monsoon. He added that the government would take steps to cool inflation

The RBI has raised its key policy interest rate – the repo – 11 times since March last year to beat down on inflation.

Last month at its first quarter review of its monetary policy, the RBI said inflation would hover around current levels at least until the end of the second quarter, which ends on September 30. It expects inflation to go down to 7 per cent by the end of the fiscal on March 31 next year.

The central bank had raised its forecast for inflation by the end of the year by a full percentage point from its May forecast of 6 per cent.

In July, prices of food articles went up 8.19 per cent year-on-year, which is lower than the 8.38 per cent inflation recorded in June.

Inflation in overall primary articles, which have a share of over 20 per cent in the WPI basket, stood at 11.30 per cent in July, down from 12.22 per cent in June.

However, prices of manufactured products, which have a weight of around 65 per cent in the WPI basket, went up 7.49 per cent year-on-year in July.

Employment onus on India

India will need to generate at least 5.5 crore additional jobs by 2015 if it wants to maintain the current ratio of employed people to total population, a study done by Crisil Research said today.

The study, Employment in India — Uneven and Weak, said this number of 5.5 crore would be twice the number of jobs created during 2005-10 and that creating these jobs would pose a challenge without adequate policy support.

While the current ratio of employed people to the total population stands at 39 per cent, the number of 5.5 crore also comes after accounting for many people employed today either retiring or losing their jobs.

According to the study, despite higher economic growth in the second half of 2000s, the country has been unable to generate sufficient number of jobs in manufacturing and services. For instance, the GDP growth increased to 8.6 per cent during 2005-10 from 6 per cent during 2000-05, but the net addition to jobs remained almost flat at around 2.7 crore during these two periods.

“While net additions to jobs during the second half of the 2000 decade have been higher than the much-discussed two million numbers, this is clearly not enough to ensure inclusive growth,” it said.

Crisil said if the country wanted a solution in this regard, it should look at other countries, including China. The study noted large-scale labour-intensive manufacturing units are a rarity in India, since the real cost of employing labour is high.

Moreover, it is also virtually impossible for a manufacturing company with more than 100 employees to fire any employee even if it is facing bankruptcy. Therefore, demand for labour has not increased fast enough in manufacturing.

However, in the service sector, particularly in high-skilled services such as financial intermediation and business services, there is a shortage of skilled labour that is constraining job creation.

DLF penalty in Gurgaon apartment case

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) today slapped a Rs 630-crore penalty on real estate giant DLF for trampling on the rights of apartment allottees — the single-largest amount slapped by any regulatory watchdog in the country. DLF has been accused of ripping off those who bought into Belaire — a tony, high-rise condominium in Gurgaon. The company has been charged with unilaterally changing the scope of the project midway, raising money from clients without statutory approvals and denying customers the right to equitable compensation while slipping on delivery schedules. The commission, which formally started work only last year, upheld the charge that DLF had abused its position of dominance in the country’s real estate market by foisting provisions in the buyers’ agreement that were loaded against its clients. The commission chose an interesting way to decide on the penalty. It calculated the penalty at 7 per cent of the average turnover of DLF in the three preceding years. The average for the three years between end-March 2009 and 2011 was estimated at Rs 9,006.27 crore. Seven per cent of this sum came to Rs 630 crore. The CCI had imposed a penalty for similar abuse of market dominance on the National Stock Exchange a month ago. However, the penalty then was only Rs 5 crore. This is a hefty penalty and a strong statement from CCI. The Belaire project was floated in August 2006 and initially supposed to have five towers of 19 floors each with a provision for 368 residential units. The project, spread over 6.6 acres, was to have been completed in 36 months. The apartments — each costing well over Rs 2 crore — aren’t likely to be handed over before October this year. Without consulting the apartment allottees, DLF arbitrarily raised the number of floors at Belaire to 29 from 19, which inordinately delayed the project. The numbers of floors were raised by compressing the common area. The allottees were denied the right to claim any reduction in the price on that account. DLF also included in the buyers’ agreement Clause 32 that permitted it to “abrogate all that has been promised to the allottee”. This clause allowed DLF to amend or change annexure to the buyers’ agreement. The abuse of its dominant position in the real estate industry — an aspect covered by clause 4 of the Competition Act - became a nub of contention. DLF argued that there were many competitors in the market and it, therefore, could not be accused of abusing its dominance. The commission, however, used a variety of statistics and assertions that DLF itself had made in several documents, including its annual report, to establish that it straddled the totem pole in the real estate business. The DLF stock plunged almost 6 per cent to Rs 189 on the Bombay Stock Exchange yeterday.

Rupee trade with smaller nations in Chinese way

 Indian exporters to developing countries are keen on rupee-denominated trade to guard against the uncertainties of a volatile dollar and euro.

A fluctuating dollar following a downgrade of US credit rating by Standard & Poor’s has prompted exporters, especially those selling high-value engineering products or construction services to Africa, Central Asia and Latin America, to seek rupee-denominated trade. The Chinese government is pursuing this strategy.

 Dollar and euro fluctuations are affecting exporters & causing a great uncertainty and erosion in realisations. No amount of foreign exchange hedging helps these days.

The dollar’s value is expected to fall against currencies such as the rupee and the Chinese currency Renminbi after the US rating rap. The Renminbi has appreciated 0.72 per cent to an all-time high in just four days after S&P cut the US debt rating from “AAA” to “AA+”.

It is feared that central banks all over the world will now look for ways to reduce their dollar holdings. They cannot do so overnight or even in the course of a year as the only competing currency — euro — is also going through troubled times because of the near bankruptcy in many euro zone countries.

Currency traders say they expect the rupee to come down from Rs 45 to the dollar to about Rs 40 by the middle of next year. Such a fall in value will mean an Indian exporter contracting to sell, say cars to Kenya at $10,000 apiece taking the dollar value at Rs 45, could get 12.5 per cent less in rupee terms.

Around 35-40 per cent of India’s exports are with the developing world, while 65-70 per cent are with the US, Europe, Japan and West Asia.

 However, the 82 per cent jump in exports in June came mainly from the non-dollar, non-euro countries.

Sanjay Budhia, chairman of the CII national committee on exports and managing director of Patton Group, said, “Rupee denominated trade will take out the uncertainty in realisations.”

Exporters want India’s Exim Bank to give rupee debt to developing countries against which they can export profitably — just as China’s banks are extending Renminbi-denominated loans to Indian electricity generating companies to buy Chinese equipment.

However, as per former Fieo president A. Sakthivel, “Rupee trade does not help us much as most of our trade is with US and Europe. If we try to go for bilateral currency trade, accepting payment in local currencies of South America, Africa will be a problem.”

Many economists are also in favour of rupee trading. D.K. Joshi, chief economist of Crisil, said, “The Chinese are doing trade deals in Renminbi with many countries and we should do the same.”

Magic Card

A very new kind of Plastic card has launched in India recently. Public sector bank IDBI recently announced the launch of Magic Card, which encompasses the features of a Debit Card with a credit limit, that charges much less than a regular credit card for salaried people only!

IDBI is the first bank in India to launch such kind of product.

With the increasing use of plastic money, this kind of card may prove useful for the bank to acquire good business.

Features of Magic Card:

§  The card incorporates the features of Debit Card as well as Credit Card work’s as a debit card till the account holder has balance in his account, once balance is over it will start functioning as a credit card.

§  The card will be offered to eligible salary account holders of IDBI Bank and the credit limit would be a multiple of the monthly salary earned by the cardholder.

§  There is no processing fee for the card, neither any charge’s for cash withdrawal, with a daily limit of 

     Rs50, 000/- from any bank ATM or purchase transaction.

Buffett flays downgrade

Legendary investor Warren Buffett has said that the downgrade did not make any sense at all.

Buffett is a major shareholder in S&P’s rival rating agency Moody’s, which continues to maintain a “AAA” rating on the US.

S&P Report made them poor

The global markets have been spiraling, thanks to the US debt crisis. Not only are we the commoners losing thousands of our hard-earned money, the country's richest aren't any much better off either.

According to this infographic made by our expert, Deepak Shenoy, the Ambani brothers have been the biggest losers with Anil Ambani's kitty getting lighter by a whooping Rs 7.6K crore closely followed by Mukesh Ambani who suffered a Rs 7.3K crore loss. IT bigwig Azim Premji, chairperson of Wipro Ltd, lost almost Rs 6.6 K crore

The BSE Sensex ended 1.7 per cent lower in trade today, led by losses in software exporter Infosys, after Standard & Poor's downgrade of the U.S. sovereign debt rating triggered a flight from risky assets.

ADAG's Anil Ambani was the highest loser in today's market slide with a loss of Rs 7,630 crore.

India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani with a $27 billion networth, and with a promoter stake of 146.39 crore shares of Reliance Industries, lost a total of Rs 7,349 crore during the market mayhem.

Telecom baron Sunil Mital who owns 36% in Bharti Airtel (the promoter shareholding includes Singtel) lost about Rs 4,531 crore.

The IT sector witnessed the maximum downslide with the sector ending 4.3 per cent. IT bellwether Infosys Technology ended 4.73 per cent lower making its founders poorer by Rs 3,173 crore.

Meanwhile, Wipro's promoter Azim Premji who holds 194.6 cr. shares of Wipro saw his market value fall by Rs 6,626 crore. The shares tanked 2.54 per cent on the BSE.

Others in the list include, HCL promoter Shiv Nadar, who with a total of 44 crore shares in the company lost Rs 2,962 crore, DLF promoter KP Singh, whose market value fell by Rs 4,645 core, and the Jindals who saw their shares tank by Rs 2,608 crore.

Here's a look at how much their market value has changed during the week:

Globally, even the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, lost $8 billion this week (Aug 1-8), while steel magnate and Britain's richest Indian Lakshmi Mittal lost £ 2.16 billion.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, however, have been luckier with their portfolios; Gates's Microsoft Corp. dropped 5.3% this week before Friday, while Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. slid 4.3%.

S&P Impact

Standard and Poor’s global rating has downgraded US long term debt rating from “AAA” to ‘AA+”  citing mainly two reasons.

1) US fiscal consolidation plan falls sort of what would be necessary to stabilize medium term debt dynamics.

2) US governance & policy making “less stable, less effective & has predictable “.

From 1917, this is the first time the health of the US fiscal policy is in question.

The US sovereign downgrade was not entirely unexpected by markets the world over. More

importantly, this rating action, albeit delayed, is yet another sign that the fall-out from the global financial crisis will be felt for many years to come.

The loss of AAA rating is likely to have a gradual and long-winding impact for the US’ standing in the world, the dollar's status, and the global financial system over the long-term.

Over the longer-term, global economic equations are set to shift significantly with concerted

efforts towards working out a new, alternative global reserve currency and likely gradual change in global reserves’ asset allocation mix towards gold and other commodities, high-potential emerging markets.

Already, Chinese policy makers are discussing ways to diversify the country's foreign exchange holdings away from dollars (one-third of its reserves) and how to encourage Chinese companies to invest some of the foreign reserves overseas.

However, US treasuries’ status as a “relative” safe haven investment is likely to continue over the medium term, given its stature as the deepest and liquid sovereign bond market.

The S&P action may trigger an automatic reaction from global markets, especially as the move coincides with the weakening global economy and spreading contagion because of sovereign debt issues in Euro zone.

The extra uncertainty could prolong the latest slide in equity prices. Heightened risk-aversion is likely to play out in the coming weeks and months.

While US bond yields are likely to spike in the short-term, they would not sustain at higher levels for long, since, once the dust settles, attention will once again turn back to the economic fundamentals, which are certainly consistent with low Treasury yields.

The US dollar will weaken owing to the rating downgrade and the perceived riskiness, causing EM currency appreciation as well as higher foreign inflows in Emerging Markets, including India, through both FII and FDI routes.

However, in case of any sharp currency movements, I expect RBI to step in and intervene in the currency market to limit the extent of INR appreciation.

The negative outlook assigned on the AA+ rating, will most likely ensure a tighter fiscal policy

regime in the US. It will be interesting to watch the trade-off between tighter US fiscal policies in contrast with a much looser monetary policy stance.

The interplay of these factors and their impact on US growth and inflation would determine the likelihood, timing as well as nature of further quantitative easing measures.

Now, the probability of a monetary expansion (in any form) in the US looks low in the near term but cannot be entirely ruled out in 2012.

RBI’s hawkish monetary stance is also likely to moderate going ahead given heightened global

uncertainty levels, weaker commodity prices and moderating domestic economic growth.

India will benefit from lower commodity prices in the long-term which will help in tacking inflationary challenges largely. This will be incrementally positive for Indian bond markets.

In addition, India is likely to be a beneficiary in terms of fund flows – both FDI & FII – in the medium-to-long term. Overall, while the short-term impact of the latest S&P action will be jittery for markets across the world, the eventual impact will be positive for Indian markets.

Disclaimer- This article is based on various data available on the internet. The author or this blog (www.yoursweetmoney.blogspot.com) must hold responsible for any wrong decision. You are hereby requested to crosscheck this article and content with your financial expert.

S&P: Asia would be hit harder by a second global crisis

A new global financial crisis would hit Asia harder than the last one, especially nations heavily exposed to offshore markets or still repairing budgets from the 2008-2009 crisis, credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's said on Monday.

The agency, which incurred Washington's wrath at the weekend by cutting its AAA rating by a notch to AA+, said it was not predicting a rerun of the credit crisis that crippled markets and tipped the world economy into recession three years ago.

But it warned of more sovereign downgrades in Asia next time around, if its assumptions turned out to be wrong.

"If a renewed slowdown comes, it would likely create a deeper and more prolonged impact than the last one," S&P said in a statement.

"The implications for sovereign creditworthiness in Asia-Pacific would likely be more negative than previously experienced, and a larger number of negative rating actions would follow. We wait to see."

S&P said it assumed Europe's debt crisis and Washington's debt problems were unlikely to lead to "abrupt dislocations" in the financial systems and economies of major developed nations.

On that basis, it added, its historic downgrade of the U.S. credit rating would have no immediate knock-on impact on sovereign borrowers in the Asia-Pacific.

It cited the Asia Pacific region's sound domestic demand, relatively healthy corporate and household sectors, plentiful external liquidity and high savings rates -- though it listed New Zealand, Japan and Vietnam as exceptions to this.

The S&P statement took on a much darker tone when considering the possibility that its assumptions were too rosy, noting that Asia still relied heavily on exports to the West.

"Given the interconnectivity of the global markets, an unexpectedly sharp disruption in developed-world financial markets could change the picture," it said, noting that the U.S. and European economies could again contract or stagnate.

"In this scenario, the experience of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 shows that export-dependent economies with large exposures to the U.S. and/or Europe would feel the most pronounced economic impacts," S&P said.

"It's not likely things would be very different this time."

The agency listed those countries particularly vulnerable to disruptions in offshore capital markets as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Indonesia.

It also said several nations, again including New Zealand, were also still repairing their government finances and could be more constrained in responding to a fresh global crisis.

"The adverse impact on Asia Pacific in that scenario would likely require governments to use their balance sheets to support their economies and financial sectors once again," S&P said.

"And in our opinion, most governments would promptly oblige. But some of them continue to bear the scars of the recent downturn -- the fiscal capacities of Japan , India, Malaysia, Taiwan and New Zealand have shrunk relative to pre-2008 levels."

Courtsey-http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/S-P-Asia-hit-harder-second-reuters-1803524115.html

Lakshmi Mittal loses 2.16 billion pounds following market crash

Steel magnate and Britain's richest man Lakshmi Mittal has lost 2.16 billion pounds (around Rs.158648328000/-) within a week following the global stock market crash.

The share price his company Arcelor Mittal, of which he owns 40.83 per cent, plummeted 18.7 percent this week reducing the value of his fortune to 9.7 billion pounds, the Daily Mail reports.

The non-resident Indian employs 320,000 people in 60 countries and lives in Bernie Ecclestone's former home in Kensington that he bought for a reported 57million pounds in 2004.

The catastrophic six days for stocks on both sides of the Atlantic has increased fears that this meltdown will lead to a dreaded double-dip recession. 

Courtesy- ANI

For first time, US loses AAA credit rating

For the first time in history, credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded America's top-notch credit rating, stripping the world's largest economy of its prized AAA status.

'We have lowered our long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America to 'AA+' from 'AAA,'' S&P said Friday in a stunning blow to the country, that has enjoyed the top rating for 70 years, and its political leadership".

In July, S&P, one of the three major agencies that assign grades the credit of companies and governments, placed the US rating on 'CreditWatch with negative implications' as the debt ceiling debate devolved into partisan bickering.

To avoid a downgrade, S&P said the US needed to not only raise the debt ceiling, but also develop a 'credible' plan to reduce the federal debt by at least $4 trillion over the next decade.

Earlier this week, Congress instead passed a plan to reduce the debt by at least $2.1 trillion.

In its report Friday, S&P ruled that the US fell short: 'The downgrade reflects our opinion that the ... plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilise the government's medium-term debt dynamics.'

S&P also cited dysfunctional policymaking in Washington as a factor in the downgrade. 'The effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges.'

The other rating agencies, Moody's and Fitch, have said they have no immediate plan to downgrade the US credit rating, giving the government more time to make progress on debt reduction.

The split verdict limits the impact of the S&P downgrade, as many consequences would be set off only by a reduction by two agencies, the New York Times said.

However, the lowering of the country's rating could rattle confidence and raise borrowing costs for the government and consumers, impeding the already fragile recovery, it said.

The announcement by S& P came after a week of turmoil on Wall Street not seen since the days of the financial crisis. After plunging around 5 percent Thursday, stocks bounced up and down Friday and closed relatively flat.

Courtesy- http://in.news.yahoo.com/first-time-us-loses-aaa-credit-rating-023927087.html