Friends
We have a lot to talk about today. On the economic front the weekly jobless claims number came in at a very nice 326,000 new claims, quite a bit better than the expected 345,000. The PMI Manufacturing Index was also better than expected with new orders, exports and output all helping the number. The ISM Manufacturing Index was much better than expected with employment, imports and export orders all showing strength. These domestic data points along with a better than expected China PMI number released overnight, put a charge into the index futures. Once trading commenced it was a buying frenzy. The bulls took the opportunity to capture 1700 on the S&P and they were able to hold on to the gains through the close.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 128 points to finish the day at 15,628. The S&P 500 was up 21 points to close at 1706. Gold was down $2 to trade at $1311 per ounce, while oil continued to climb as WTI was up $2.68 to trade at $107.71 per barrel.
Wow, what a set up for tomorrow’s jobs report. The bulls seem to have the upper hand, having gotten through that 1700 S&P level today, but the jobs number will need to confirm today’s bullishness. After the Fed’s dovish statement yesterday, tomorrows number added to this week’s other somewhat encouraging economic data, could leave traders with a bit of a dilemma. Is the news this week too good? Will the Fed’s accommodative statement quickly be revised in the face of better data? Remember, we want good news despite the risk of Fed tapering. Let’s get on with it. Let’s grow this economy for everyone, not just the investor class and in the end the investor class will be even more rewarded by a strong economic underpinning to share prices instead of just central bank liquidity (which we know will leave someday). Ok, I’m done for now. Let’s see what the jobs number looks like tomorrow (consensus is about 175,000 new jobs but the whisper number is 200,000).
Have a nice evening everyone.
