Friends
We had a lot of economic news today including the ADP Employment Report, Weekly Jobless Claims, ISM Manufacturing Index and Consumer Confidence and the main takeaway is that on the whole, the domestic economic situation is strengthening. Sure, it is very gradual and incremental, but nevertheless for the past 90 days we have had more good news than bad. On the other hand, the reports and guidance we have gotten from corporate America have gotten worse. Now, the question is, are the corporations correct meaning economic activity will reverse and trend back down, or are the economic signals correct and this earnings season is a trough and corporate revenues and profits will trend back up?
Regardless, after yesterday’s month-end close, stocks rallied on this first day of November with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up a tasty 136 points to close at 13,232. The S&P 500 was up 15 points to finish the day at 1427. Gold was down $4 to trade at $1715 per ounce, while oil was up $.73 to trade at $86.97 per barrel WTI. The S&P was able to get back to the last month’s major resistance then subsequent support area of 1425 to 1429. Very interesting setup as we go into the next few days.
Tomorrow, we get the all-important non-farm payroll number and unemployment rate. Consensus is that somewhere around 125,000 to 130,000 new jobs were created in October. The markets will surely move on this number so stay tuned and we will let you know how the day plays out. Of course, next Tuesday is the presidential election and traders are taking their positions accordingly. It sure is interesting times.
Have a nice evening everyone.
