Reply #38: 12:07 EST numbers and blather [View All]

[UpInArms]

Dow 10,514.18 -26.75 (-0.25%)
Nasdaq 1,999.40 -6.27 (-0.31%)
S&P 500 1,182.04 +0.63 (+0.05%)
10-Yr Bond 45.16 -0.42 (-0.92%)

NYSE Volume 916,724,000
Nasdaq Volume 751,989,000

12:00 Market still struggles to gain much traction midday, as surging oil prices offset encouraging economic data and falling bond yields... A nearly 3.0% rise in crude oil prices to over $55.50/bbl, amid concerns of inadequate refining capacity, raised oil estimates from Goldman Sachs and a weaker dollar, has prevented the market from showing much follow through after yesterday's impressive performance... On a more positive note, Feb personal income was up 0.3% (consensus 0.4%) while personal spending was up 0.5% (consensus 0.5%), both decent from an economic standpoint... But the more closely watched core PCE deflator, which checked in up 0.2%, did not rise as high as many economists' had anticipated (+0.3%) and was below January's gain of 0.3%, suggesting that inflation remains well contained... Another report on investors' minds today was the March Chicago PMI, which unexpectedly surged 6.5 points to 69.2 (consensus 60.5) - a new 17-year high... But the report has taken a back seat to tomorrow's national ISM survey, which will provide a more general measure of manufacturing conditions...

Meanwhile, Health Care (-0.6%) has been the most influential of the 10 economic sectors to lose ground after Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 67.11 -0.94) received a subpoena regarding certain consulting contracts and Biogen Idec (BIIB 34.74 -3.61) confirmed its third Tysabri-linked nerve disorder...

Transportation, Industrials and Consumer Staples have also traded lower while profit taking in Technology, following yesterday's 1.6% surge on the Nasdaq, has pressured every sub-sector except Disk Drive (+0.9%)...

Upside Q3 guidance from Western Digital (WDC 12.63 +1.46) has prompted Merrill Lynch to upgrade the disk drive maker to Buy from Neutral... Pacing the way higher has been Energy (+1.7%), in the wake of surging oil prices, while Materials (+1.2%) has also been strong in the wake of dollar weakness...

Retail (+0.5%) has been strong, aided by speculation that JC Penney (JCP 51.64 +3.74) and Saks (SKS 18.06 +1.51) could be acquired, while interest-rate sensitive areas like Utility (+1.0%) and Homebuilding (+1.0%) have found buyers in the wake of declining borrowing costs...

Treasurys have held onto solid gains, as the 10-year note is up 8 ticks to yield 4.51%, after initially ticking higher following an unexpected rise in jobless claims to 350K...The claims data, however, have had little impact on equity markets ahead of tomorrow's more significant employment report...

Separately, Feb factory order rose 0.2%, a bit less than an expected 0.5% gain, but the predictability of the report has prevented it from having any influence on market activity... ..

DJTA -0.5%. ..DJUA +1.0%. ..SOX -0.7%. ..DOT -0.4%. ..XOI +1.4%. ..BTK -1.0%. ..Nasdaq 100 -0.5%. ..NYSE Adv/Dec 2000/1130. ..NASDAQ Adv/Dec 1201/1669.