Thursday, November 05, 2009
Make Your Mind Up
We saw more volatility Wednesday with stocks coming off their morning highs to close mixed on the session after the Fed statement. The Dow gained 30.23 points to end on 9,802.14. The SPX added 1.03 points to close at 1,046.50. We are in the green and looking ok.
Stocks got off to a solid start Wednesday ahead of the Fed statement. After the statement, stocks moved even higher, but this was short lived and the markets sold off heavily in the last hour of trading.
The Fed released a statement that was little changed. The committee left the Fed funds rate unchanged and did not change their statement that rates would be left low for an "extended period" of time. Many were afraid the Fed would make comments that would remove the "extended" part of the statement. This might seem like trivial, but traders are listening closely for any signs that the Fed is going to start easing its expansive policies.
Traders are also keenly focused on the jobs market, which continues to be a major concern. Friday will see the release of the October jobs report and traders got the Challenger report on job cuts and the ADP Employment release this morning. Job cut announcements fell to their lowest level since March 2008 at 55,679. This was down from 66,404 in September and well below the highs hit nearly a year ago when cuts reached above 200,000. The ADP report showed a decline of 203,000 private payrolls in October. This was an improvement from the 227,000 lost in September. Economists are looking for nonfarm payrolls to decline 175,000 as measured by the Labor department.
It would be good to see a quiet day in the markets ahead of the jobs report Friday.....but dont hold your breath.
Until next time.
Stocks got off to a solid start Wednesday ahead of the Fed statement. After the statement, stocks moved even higher, but this was short lived and the markets sold off heavily in the last hour of trading.
The Fed released a statement that was little changed. The committee left the Fed funds rate unchanged and did not change their statement that rates would be left low for an "extended period" of time. Many were afraid the Fed would make comments that would remove the "extended" part of the statement. This might seem like trivial, but traders are listening closely for any signs that the Fed is going to start easing its expansive policies.
Traders are also keenly focused on the jobs market, which continues to be a major concern. Friday will see the release of the October jobs report and traders got the Challenger report on job cuts and the ADP Employment release this morning. Job cut announcements fell to their lowest level since March 2008 at 55,679. This was down from 66,404 in September and well below the highs hit nearly a year ago when cuts reached above 200,000. The ADP report showed a decline of 203,000 private payrolls in October. This was an improvement from the 227,000 lost in September. Economists are looking for nonfarm payrolls to decline 175,000 as measured by the Labor department.
It would be good to see a quiet day in the markets ahead of the jobs report Friday.....but dont hold your breath.
Until next time.
# posted by Paul @ 3:33 AM 
