Monday, April 28, 2008
Up or Down?
There was mixed trading Friday on the back of mixed earnings! The Dow added 42.91 points today to close the session at 12,891.86. The SPX gained 9.02 points, closing at 1,397.84.
Microsoft had some disappointing earnings but then American Express had some good earnings which caused the financial sector to rally up and drag the rest of the markets up as well.
We have had now over 26% of earnings announcements and though earnings have shown a decline this quarter, the drop in profits has been less than anticipated. Also if you take out the financials from the picture then earnings have not been that bad...so far!
On the economic front, consumer sentiment fell more than expected as measured by the University of Michigan. The sentiment index declined to 62.6 in April from 63.2 mid-month and 69.5 in March. This reading is the lowest for the index since the 1980’s and shows just how concerned traders are about the economy and rising energy prices.
Oil prices rose on the session by $2.46 a barrel to a price of $118.52. Crude rallied Friday on news a U.S. cargo ship fired at two boats in the Persian Gulf. Concerns about supply disruptions in Nigeria and the U.K. also put upward pressure on commodities.
This week is a big week. We will see another round of earnings reports and some key economic data, including the Fed meeting on interest rates. The major market indices have been stair-stepping higher, but are now approaching resistance at their respective 200-day moving averages. The markets will make their move one way or the other this week and we will place our play once we know what is happening.
Until next time.
Microsoft had some disappointing earnings but then American Express had some good earnings which caused the financial sector to rally up and drag the rest of the markets up as well.
We have had now over 26% of earnings announcements and though earnings have shown a decline this quarter, the drop in profits has been less than anticipated. Also if you take out the financials from the picture then earnings have not been that bad...so far!
On the economic front, consumer sentiment fell more than expected as measured by the University of Michigan. The sentiment index declined to 62.6 in April from 63.2 mid-month and 69.5 in March. This reading is the lowest for the index since the 1980’s and shows just how concerned traders are about the economy and rising energy prices.
Oil prices rose on the session by $2.46 a barrel to a price of $118.52. Crude rallied Friday on news a U.S. cargo ship fired at two boats in the Persian Gulf. Concerns about supply disruptions in Nigeria and the U.K. also put upward pressure on commodities.
This week is a big week. We will see another round of earnings reports and some key economic data, including the Fed meeting on interest rates. The major market indices have been stair-stepping higher, but are now approaching resistance at their respective 200-day moving averages. The markets will make their move one way or the other this week and we will place our play once we know what is happening.
Until next time.
# posted by Paul @ 5:08 AM 
