Stock Market

The stock market sank Friday into its worst three-day slide since the depths of last year's financial crisis, stung by deepening concern about President Barack Obama's bank-regulation plan and fresh economic doubts. The Dow Jones industrial average sank more than 200 points - its third triple-digit loss in a row. The index has fallen 5.2 percent from its 15-month-high set Tuesday. It was the Dow's worst three-day drop since the furious sell-off last March, which marked the end of the bear market and the launch of a powerful rally that had been in place until this week.

It was quite entertaining to read Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s recent column alleging President Barack Obama has made numerous foreign policy blunders ("Obama foreign policy follies befuddle both left and right," June 9). Unfortunately, Mr. Ehrlich was only successful at lobbing in all of the political buzz words like Obamacare, Benghazi, Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright (!) but with no cohesive message or argument. Predictably, in a column supposedly about foreign policy, the governor also chose to mention President Obama's "dismal" domestic track record and "distressing" judicial appointments.

Good thing Ron Shapiro isn't a told-you-so kinda guy. Not after The New York Times reported recently on how Chinese companies are finding a back door into the U.S. stock market . Shapiro, a prominent sports agent-attorney whose clients have included Cal Ripken Jr., warned about the same sort of stock market shenanigans 42 years ago, as lead author of a Maryland Law Review article titled, “The 'Going Public Through the Back Door' Phenomenon...

Mildred Kern, an original resident of the North Oaks Retirement Community who had worked overseas for the United Nations, died of heart disease Sunday at her home. She was six days short of turning 105. "She was our oldest resident, and she was our very first resident," said Mark E. Pressman, the retirement community's executive director. "She and her sister actually moved in before the building was finished. She showed the first apartments at times and was actively interested in our growth.

DOW JONES (up) +58.84 closed at 10,136.24 NASDAQ (up) +24.07 closed at 1,893.94 S&P 500 (up) +4.74 closed at 1,114.80 SUN-BLOOMBERG (up) +1.62 closed at 268.28 Euro in dollars (up) +$0.0001 closed at $1.2327 10-year T-Bonds (up) +0.09 closed at 4.09%

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers navigated a tough consumer market to gain in profit and stock price in the past fiscal year. The Hampstead retailer's chief executive R. Neal Black also did well, taking home $2.6 million in pay, more than double his compensation in 2008. On the other end of the executive pay spectrum, A.L. "Tom" Giannopoulos, head of Columbia-based MICROS Systems Inc., saw his total compensation drop $4.1 million. Giannopoulos' $2.8 million pay package, while not a small sum, reflected the declining profit and stock market value at the information systems company during the past fiscal year.

Legg Mason Inc.'s stock, which has struggled to recover from the financial crisis, hit a new 52-week high last week. It could be a harbinger of a turnaround at the Baltimore-based money manager. Or Legg shares simply may be riding the recent record-setting rally in the stock market. Legg's stock closed Thursday at a yearly high of $32.13 per share — territory the stock hasn't traded in since July 2011. The stock retreated slightly Friday, closing down 18 cents at $31.95, but even so, its shares are up 24 percent this year.

Based on the way it's usually been over the decades, what you see in the stock market today is an indication of what the economy will be in about six months. The market is not a thermometer, it's a barometer.However, the stock market is uneven to an unusual degree. A number of share prices have been hit hard, but many others are near their highs, a mixture that throws a haze over the picture down the road.In the financial world, for example, the share prices of securities firms are strong but those of banks and savings and loans are weak.

Ed Fishel is a year and three months from retirement. Ask him if he noticed that the stock market plunged last week, and the Monkton man will laugh incredulously. "Are you kidding me?" he said Friday, less than 24 hours after stock-market indexes turned in their biggest one-day drop since the financial crisis. "For somebody like me, who's butting up against their retirement, yes — it's pretty much all we talk about. … This is scary as heck. " Local brokers fielded nervous calls from clients last week.

The spectacle of nearly one million Chinese clamoring to invest their money in the Shenzen stock market -- and creating the largest civil disturbance since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests -- is the clearest sign that China's policy of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" is falling apart. It is new evidence that the capitalist experiment started in southeastern China 15 years ago is poised to overwhelm the country.When Deng Xiaoping imposed reforms to introduce market forces into China's stagnating economy in the late 1970s, he created a tremendous spurt of economic growth, particularly in south China.

T. Rowe Price has a reputation as a place where portfolio managers can spend their entire careers. But over 12 weeks this year, three fund managers left the Baltimore-based investment company or announced plans to do so. Two left suddenly, with a star manager taking two top analysts along. That's high turnover for any fund company, but particularly at Price, where the average tenure of a fund manager at the firm is 15 years. "It's out of character," said Laura Lallos, an analyst with Chicago-based Morningstar Inc., which tracks funds.

Millennial Media's stock has lost three-fourths of its value since the Canton company went public a year ago as an established force in the mobile advertising market. Ask CEO Paul Palmieri about that, and he'll repeat what he deems wise words from a prominent contemporary. "I care very much about our share owners, and so I care very much about our long-term share price," Palmieri said, quoting from an interview Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos gave to the Harvard Business Review in January.

When it comes to generating income from investments, Americans' expectations for returns are significantly higher than what they are actually earning, according to a survey released this morning by Legg Mason Inc. “Our survey is telling us that income-oriented investors in the U.S. are coming up well short of their goals - almost 3 percent short - and that number could be significant especially for retired investors who need to live on the income their...

While Congress tosses all kinds of scenarios around about the future of retirement benefits like Medicare or Social Security - while doing absolutely nothing about it - we shouldn't be terribly surprised that real people are feeling as insecure about their post-employment years as ever. The latest survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that despite last year's stock market gains, workers are less confident this year than last that they'll have enough money for a comfortable retirement.

With Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. likely poised to announce year-end and fourth-quarter results this week, investors and analysts wonder just how bad it will be. So far this year, stock in the Hampstead-based men's apparel chain has sat out the stock market rally, falling 6 percent even as the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 7 percent. The concern stems from the retailer's January warning that its profit for the fiscal year ended Feb. 2 will be off 20 percent. The problems prompted Zacks Investment Research to dub Jos. A. Bank its "bear of the day" in a report issued last week.

Legg Mason Inc.'s stock, which has struggled to recover from the financial crisis, hit a new 52-week high last week. It could be a harbinger of a turnaround at the Baltimore-based money manager. Or Legg shares simply may be riding the recent record-setting rally in the stock market. Legg's stock closed Thursday at a yearly high of $32.13 per share — territory the stock hasn't traded in since July 2011. The stock retreated slightly Friday, closing down 18 cents at $31.95, but even so, its shares are up 24 percent this year.

The 200th anniversary of the New York Stock Exchange featured a carnival, the release of a 29-cent stamp commemorating the event and the exchange's first television commercials ever. Even former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev dropped by to pay his respects.The anniversary gives time for the market to reflect in a record-setting year."The bicentennial is a bullish factor, and the public relations surrounding it will draw the attention of more individuals to the market," said Joseph McAlinden, managing director of Dillon Reed.

Simon Says:It seems like the perfect time for an old joke:Q: How do you make a small fortune on the stock market?A: Start with a large fortune.I hear the Postal Service is considering a new deal to help repair its damaged reputation: If your letter does not get to its destination within 90 days, you get the stamp for free!*It may be a bad sign if you own more pairs of running shoes than books.*I think Whitewater is one heck of a good story, but has anyone noticed that we're getting close to war with North Korea?

Last Friday, the Labor Department reported that 236,000 new jobs were created in February. That's good news -- but not nearly good enough. Even if this rate were to continue, which seems unlikely, the United States wouldn't be back to pre-recession levels of unemployment for another four years. American workers remain in a bear market. More than 12 million Americans are still without work. Another 8 million are working part time but would rather be working full time. Many have given up looking.

The drumbeat for weeks has been that $85 billion in across-the-board federal spending cuts known as the sequester would be so horrendous for the economy that lawmakers in Washington would be forced to compromise by the March 1 deadline. When no deal was reached, not only did the stock market shrug it off, but the Dow Jones industrial average of 30 blue-chip stocks soared to new heights. On Tuesday, the Dow blew past its old record of 14,164.53 from Oct. 9, 2007, and continued to climb, ending the week at 14,397.