Midday Market Commentary For 08-23-2012
Markets melted fractionally up as expected and then melted back down to their starting point minutes after the opening. Not surprising when looking at the volume. Although not as low as some previous sessions, it still remains exceeding low during any melting up. The profit taking is showing up as a real detriment to any further gains at least in the near term.
News is light, Draghi is trying to start up the printing presses and the Europeans are still bickering. The markets will probably vacillate ending up not doing much in either direction today.
The RRR** continues to be narrow and unprofitable. Swing trading is at your own risk and being the market is at a crossroads of sorts, I would prefer to sit on my hands rather than risk guessing incorrectly. The averages appears to be bearish, but we have been here before.
The DOW at 12:30 is at 13081 down 90 or -0.69%.
The 500 is at 1405 down 8.28 or -0.59%.
The $RUT is at 806.40 down 6.16 or -0.76%.
SPY is at 140.96 down 0.86 or -0.61%.
The trend is sightly bearish and the current bias is down.
WTI oil is at 97.66 trading between 97.25 and 98.30 and the bias is neutral.
Brent crude is at 116.07 trading between 114.95 and 116.38 and the bias is neutral.
Gold is at 1671.35 trading between 1652.30 and 1674.88 with a positive bias.
Dr. Copper is at 3.49 up from 3.47 earlier.
Earlier the USD melted down from 81.50 to 81.23 and is currently at 81.31.
BIG Selling Lots
If there was ever a sign that our economy, from the bottom-up, is running on fumes, it was Big Lots’ dismal earnings and even more dismal outlook. The discounter is now down 21% back to 12 month lows…
In case you missed it earlier, Foxnews reported, “New claims for unemployment benefits rose last week to 372,000 from an upwardly revised 368,000 the week prior. Claims were expected to fall to 365,000 from an initially reported 366,000.”
Chinese factory activity contracts at faster pace. The August preliminary HSBC PMI for China fell to a nine-month low of 47.8 from 49.3 in July. New orders and new export orders both contracted at a faster rate than July, while inventories rose at a speedier pace. “Beijing must step up policy easing to lift infrastructure investment in the coming months,” HSBC said.
** RRR = Risk Reward Ratio
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Written by Gary
