Rally into Jobs Friday

Mar 8, 2012 | Market Commentary

Friends

As we wait with baited breath to see if the Greek bond swap deal goes through (to determine if they are bankrupt today or next month), stocks had a second good day after Tuesday’s shellacking. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 70 points to close at 12,907. The S&P 500 was up 13 points to finish the day at 1365. Gold was up $17 to close near $1700 per ounce and oil was up $.57 to close near $106 per barrel WTI.

On the jobs front, as we wait for the all-important employment date coming tomorrow morning, today’s weekly unemployment claim number rose a bit from last week but still is trending the right way. The non-farm payroll number should set the tone for tomorrow’s trading and most likely into next week. If the news is good do we rally, or do we sell on the good news (after all, good news means less “cowbell” from the Fed potentially, and stocks have just loved “cowbell”)? On the other hand, if the number is bad, do we sell off, or hang in there with anticipation of more “cowbell” (liquidity fuel for stocks)?

Stay Tuned!

Have a nice evening everyone.

Recent Posts

Tech Stocks Continue to Drag Market Lower

Tech Stocks Continue to Drag Market Lower

Friends The weakness in tech/AI stocks continues and the market averages, especially the Nasdaq, continue to lose ground as we get closer to year end. Instead of taking a victory lap the stocks that have been the leaders all year long are now cowering nervously in the...

Stocks Mostly Lower after Employment Data Release

Stocks Mostly Lower after Employment Data Release

Friends This morning’s release of the November non-farm payroll number showed that 64,000 new jobs were added, which was better than analysts had expected. The unemployment rate did tick up to 4.6%, which was actually more than expected. It’s hard to determine if this...

Stocks Soft As Economic Data Looms

Stocks Soft As Economic Data Looms

Friends Today was pretty much the same script we have seen over the past couple of weeks. The AI/big tech names came under selling pressure enough to take the market averages into negative territory. It’s hard to read too much into recent market action as we are so...