Closing Market Commentary For 04-02-2013
Markets sailed along nicely at elevated levels until 2 pm when weakness slipped in and started melting the averages down. By 3:45 volume picked up slightly and a recovery, of sorts, pulled the numbers back up – slightly. All in all, the markets did not act like they were on fire after posting new highs.
By 4 the numbers were mixed and flat with only the DOW still up and chugging along.
What we read this morning and afternoon. (In case you missed it.)
The ‘Walking Dead’ Housing Recovery – Zombie Foreclosures
With the mainstream media becoming increasingly worked up about the pending real-estate ‘parabolic’ surge and ‘now is the time to buy’, the reality of ‘zombie foreclosures’ and ‘foreclosure stuffing’ that we discussed six months ago continues to grow.
While most prefer to ignore inventory as an issue (apart from Bob Shiller and Karl Case who have adamantly refused to ‘bless’ this ‘exuberant’ housing recovery), knowing full well that at some point these huge volumes of vacated but still ‘owned’ homes must come to market (once the foreclosure process picks up).
The reality is that with Nevada, Kentucky, Maine, and Indiana having over 50% of homes in vacant foreclosure, there is plenty of supply to come (and with it the accompanying downward pressure on prices)…
Eurozone PMI contraction deepens.
Eurozone manufacturing PMI dropped to a three-month low of 46.8 (flash 46.6) in March from 47.9 in February, as a fall in output and new orders gathered pace and brought further job losses. Eurozone countries either experienced sharper rates of decline or – in the cases of Germany and Ireland – slid back into contraction.
Factory Orders “Saved By The Transports”; Annual Increase Barely Positive
Stockton cleared for bankruptcy protection.
As forecast, eurozone unemployment remained unchanged on the month in February at 12%, although that’s somewhat greater than the 10.9% rate a year earlier. As you’d expect, the highest jobless levels were in Greece (26.4%) and Spain (26.3%) respectively, while Austria (4.8%) and Germany (5.4%) enjoyed the lowest unemployment.
Eurozone unemployment stays at record high.
Putin to Russian officials: close foreign accounts
President Vladimir Putin has given Russian officials a three-month deadline to close their foreign bank accounts or face dismissal.
Putin’s decree released Tuesday by the Kremlin obliges officials to file their income declarations by July 1. Putin’s chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, said they will have to close their bank accounts by that time.
Those who have real estate abroad will be required to explain how they could make the purchase, and those who fail will face being ousted. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized there will be “no untouchables.”
Putin first announced the measure in his state-of-the nation address in December as part of efforts to fight corruption, but the corresponding bills got bogged down in the Kremlin-controlled lower house, so Putin ended up ordering the move by decree.
The DOW at 4:00 is at 14662 up 89 or 0.61%.
The SP500 is at 1570 up 8 or 0.52%.
SPY is at 156.85 up 0.805 or 0.51%.
The $RUT is at 934.30 down 4.49 or -0.48%.
NASDAQ is at 3254 up 15 or 0.48%.
The longer trend is up, the past months trend is bullish, the past 5 sessions have been bullish to scary and the current bias is sideways.
WTI oil is trading between 97.24 and 95.92 today. The session bias is bearish and is currently trading up at 96.85.
More Widening For The Brent/WTI Spread Ahead?
Brent crude is trading between 111.50 and 109.80 today. The session bias is bearish and is currently trading down at 110.24.
Gold fell from 1604.00 earlier to 1573.15 and is currently trading down at 1575.20.
Here’s why copper has lost its indicator role
Dr. Copper is at 3.37 falling from 3.40 earlier.
The US dollar is trading between 82.63 and 83.13 and is currently trading up at 83.10, the bias is currently bullish.
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Written by Gary