Weekly Market Wrap: 2/26/10

(MarketNewsVideo.com) -- Hi. I'm SAYOKO MURASE. Welcome to the Weekly Market Wrap for Friday, February 26, 2010.

As of late Friday morning, major U.S. markets look to close the week lower on poor economic releases this week.

The Dow Industrials ended the week down. The S&P 500 Index was lower and the Nasdaq Composite Index also fell.

Gold prices were down slightly this week, trading around the $1,113 an ounce level late on Friday morning.

Crude oil was down about a dollar this week. April crude futures were trading just under $79 a barrel on Friday morning.

On the economic front, preliminary gross domestic product was reported to have risen at a 5.9 percent annual rate for the fourth quarter of 2009, the highest growth rate since the third quarter of 2003.

Consumers have taken a turn to the dark side, as the Conference Board's February Consumer Confidence Index showed a huge drop, down almost 10 points to 46 versus January's 55.9 value. Economists were expecting a 54.8 value. Consumers remain pessimistic because of fading confidence in future earnings and job opportunities.

Existing home sales for January missed economist expectations big time today, off almost 10 percent from expectations at an annualized rate of 5.05 million. Observers were expecting a 5.5 million home sales rate.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress this week that the Fed funds rate will likely remain near zero for an extended period due to a slow economic recovery. He forecast a growth rate of between 3 percent and 3.5 percent this year with inflation remaining subdued.

Fed Chief Ben Bernanke disclosed that the Federal Reserve is examining the role of Goldman Sachs (GS) and other banks in arranging swaps deals for Greece. The Fed is looking at Wall Street's financial dealings to hide debt levels in Europe.

On the earnings front this week, American Capital (ACAS) missed earnings expectations on Tuesday, reporting 7 cents per share in profits. Consensus quarterly earnings estimates were for 10 cents.

Sears (SHLD) reported $3.69 per share in profits, beating street estimates of $3.55.

Garmin (GRMN) released earnings of $1.43 per share, beating analyst expectations of 95 cents for the fourth quarter.

Newmont Mining (NEM) reported a fourth quarter profit of $1.13 per share, handily beating the street estimate of 79 cents.

Natural gas producer Southwestern Energy (SWN) released earnings of 45 cents per share, in-line with the consensus estimate.

DryShips (DRYS) reported 23 cents per share in profits, meeting analyst's expectations.

This is the Weekly Market Wrap for Friday, February 26. Please join us on Monday for the Week Ahead Market Report.

The preceeding is a transcript of the MarketNewsVideo.com video published at: http://www.marketnewsvideo.com/?id=201002WeeklyWrap022610&mv=1.