Thursday, May 10, 2007
No News There
The Fed spoke and the rally continued depsite lower hopes of a rate cut. The Dow ended the session with a gain of 53.80 points to close at 13,362.87. The SPX`picked up 4.86 points to finish on 1,512.58.
Ahead of the Fed meeting, the major market indices showed little movement. Following the meeting, stocks continued to rally, which has been the norm now for the the past few months. Ironically, the rally ensued despite anything new from the Fed signaling possible rate cuts in the near future.
The Fed statement was nearly the same as the March 21 statement with only a few minor changes. The committee did note that the economy is slowing when they stated that data was mixed at the prior meeting. They did continue to note that inflation is the greatest risk, especially with tight utilization. Nonetheless, the odds of a Fed rate cut by the end of the October meeting remained at around 62 percent according to the Fed Funds Futures.
With the Fed focusing in on economic data, this means traders will be digesting these reports as well. There are some key reports due out this week, including the producer price index and retail sales report for April due out on Friday. Traders will be interested in seeing how retail sales fared given such higher gasoline prices at the pumps.
Now is the time to get a play on. Call side first, wait for the reports on Friday and then maybe place the put side.
Until next time.
Ahead of the Fed meeting, the major market indices showed little movement. Following the meeting, stocks continued to rally, which has been the norm now for the the past few months. Ironically, the rally ensued despite anything new from the Fed signaling possible rate cuts in the near future.
The Fed statement was nearly the same as the March 21 statement with only a few minor changes. The committee did note that the economy is slowing when they stated that data was mixed at the prior meeting. They did continue to note that inflation is the greatest risk, especially with tight utilization. Nonetheless, the odds of a Fed rate cut by the end of the October meeting remained at around 62 percent according to the Fed Funds Futures.
With the Fed focusing in on economic data, this means traders will be digesting these reports as well. There are some key reports due out this week, including the producer price index and retail sales report for April due out on Friday. Traders will be interested in seeing how retail sales fared given such higher gasoline prices at the pumps.
Now is the time to get a play on. Call side first, wait for the reports on Friday and then maybe place the put side.
Until next time.
# posted by Paul @ 1:36 AM 
