Friends
Today was full of economic data points and market directional changes. Before the open, we got a stronger than expected ADP employment number with 200,000 new private sector jobs having been created in June. Just after that we got our first look at 2ndquarter GDP with the U.S. economy growing at 1.7% as opposed to the less than 1% that the street was looking for. Both of these economic data points set a positive tone for early trading with the major market averages beginning the day in positive territory. But remember, traders were also waiting for the FOMC statement that was to be released at 1:00 our time. Stocks drifted into negative territory before the statement was released, but rallied back to positive territory after the release. In the last hour a nifty 75 point Dow rally melted into the close and we were left with a somewhat mixed last day of the month trading.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 21 points to finish the month at 15,499. The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged to close at 1685. Gold was down $3 to trade at $1321 per ounce, while oil was up $2.05 to trade at $105.13 per barrel WTI. Once again, the bulls got close but could not penetrate 1700 on the S&P. We’ll see if they can make that happen in August.
As for earnings season, the scorecard is as follows: 68% of companies have beaten expectations, 9% have met expectations, and 23% have missed expectations. Remember, though, expectations have been ratcheted down recently so the “beats” may be somewhat misleading. Anyway, we’ll continue to monitor earnings reports while we wait for Friday’s all-important jobs report. We’ll keep an eye on it all.
Have a nice evening everyone.
