Before the Open (Jan 7)

Posted on by Jason Leavitt

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed and with a bearish bias – India and Indonesia lost over 2%. Europe is currently mostly down, but losses aren’t bad. Prior to the employment numbers release, futures here in the States were flat.
Here are the important employment numbers:
unemployment rate: 9.4% (vs 9.8%)
nonfarm payrolls: up 103K
private payrolls: added 113K

average workweek: 34.3
hourly earnings: up 0.1% to $22.78
The futures market initial reaction was to sell off. In a twisted way, lukewarm numbers mean the Fed stays accomodative which is good for Wall St. Good numbers on the other hand increase the odds the Fed backs off. So if you’re bullish, best case is for lukewarm numbers so the Fed continues their POMO operations.
Otherwise the market feels weak to me. We’ve gone a long time without a significant sell off. The overall trend remains up, but the list of warnings is growing. In addition to the indicators I discussed last week and over the weekend, we now have a rallying dollar and lagging small caps. You gotta wonder when all these warnings will at least cause enough of a pullback to get the bulls’ attention.
I’m staying on my toes.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings Reports
this week’s Economic Numbers

0 thoughts on “Before the Open (Jan 7)”

  1. The household data is likely a good indicator of what is going to happen, a recovery in employment of some description.
    Housing is still an anchor. EU stays a threat. Still in anticipation of the recession wearing out and a recovery in general – less housing of course which becomes a permanent drag for 4 -5 years.
    Should one be long? Yes until April. Look at energy, technology, food stuffs, and ag. Get some dividend stocks and go with the flow.
    Not a great year, but likely a good one.

  2. this weak counter trend rally from mar 09 came to a end yesterday with a false break in the ftse and dax weak
    have a bias and loose money or trade reality and what is

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