TGIF. I really feel this way today. This week tired me out. It is hard to put my finger on it, but something in the flow of information about the market or my participation in the market this week drained me. Maybe it is just me, as I have lots of personal stuff going on in my life, and I have been traveling, but whatever it is, all I want to do is put everything on hold for a day. OMG. It is Friday, so tomorrow I can sleep in and put everything on hold for a day. Yahoo!

Nevertheless, today is still happening and I still have money working, so it is time to get to work …

The earnings reports today from some of the big boys are a mixed bag. Mostly, profit is there, but revenues are light. The market takes this earnings stuff seriously, as we have seen this week, so why isn’t it rolling downhill today? IBM came in weak, and that has dragged the Dow down, but, as I write, the big boy just went green, catching up with the other majors already solidly in the green. Oops! It just reversed and headed back into the red. I wonder what that is about?

  • Regional data on manufacturing have been weaker than national data on the sector, a point that should limit reaction in the markets. The Dow is moving lower following today’s report as well as a dip in the LEI (See below.).
  • The Conference Board Leading Economic Index(R) (LEI) for the U.S. declined 0.1 percent in March to 94.7 (2004 = 100), following a 0.5 percent increase in February, and a 0.5 percent increase in January.

That helps me understand the Dow movement today, I guess. But with the Mid-Atlantic region reporting weaker factory sales for April, why isn’t that news sending the overall market to the downside and fast?

  • Business activity in Mid-Atlantic manufacturing is flat this month with details pointing to trouble. The Philly Fed’s composite index came in above zero, at plus 1.3 to show minimal monthly growth. The reading is little changed from March’s plus 2.0. But outside of the shipments component, which is strongly positive at plus 9.1, there’s little strength in the report. New orders have been flat, at minus 1.0 vs. March’s plus 0.5, and employment is turning down, at minus 6.8 vs. plus 2.7 last month.

There is still time for the market to reconsider its position today, although the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ indices clearly act as if they want to go up and stay up.

  • Facing its largest weekly loss in almost a year, the index is getting a boost overnight from strong global markets
  • The Nasdaq extended its early gains on Friday, jumping 1 percent on the strength of quarterly results from Microsoft Corp and Google Inc.

Is the up movement in the NASDAQ about Microsoft and Google, really? How is that? Tech earnings this week have been, at best, a mixed bag.

I give up. I am too tired to think this all through. It is what it is on this Friday. The market itself is a mixed bag, a bag I will now leave on Friday’s doorstep as I walk away to take a break.

Trade in the day; Invest in your life …

Trader Ed