Today, the market is looking at a multitude of data points that will be coming in throughout the day. it starts at 8:30 with the Import Price Index. At 9:55 AM, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index will be released that measures the attitude of consumers for the month of August. At 10:00 AM, the Commerce Department will be releasing August information on wholesale inventories, which is a strong barometer for the health of the industrial side of our economy. Finally, at 2:00 PM the Federal Budget Balance is released, which will give a reading on the budget deficit, which is expected to go down. So, there is a ton of data that is going to be coming out throughout the day that will shape the market’s direction.
As of now, the sentiment of investors appears to be neutral with the Dow up only a single point and the NASDAQ up over five points. Investors are waiting for some of this data to help give them a sense of direction. The world markets have all given some hope to investors as the European markets are all in the positive, and there were mixed results in Asia with Japan doing well while others struggled. A continually weak dollar is helping these stocks have stronger relative value.
The American market did not get a lot of other pertinent news this morning. National Semiconductor has been giving some gains to the tech world as it beat expectations this morning despite a 61% drop in profits. Additionally, Plum Creek Timber, one of my least favorite stocks moving forward, was upgraded by Credit Suisse because the stock does not warrant the type of sell off it has been receiving. Other than that, it has been a very light morning on the news front.
Oil continued above $72 per barrel in Asia on Friday, but the NYMEX has already dropped future prices below $72 per barrel. This could be due to some general lack of information that came out today, but the rise may be taking a temporary halt on Friday.
8:30 AM Update: The import price index increased more than 2% in August, which was double the 1% expected rise. The price of imports increased due to higher oil prices. Even without oil prices, the import prices still rose 0.4%. The increase is very different than the 15% drop one year ago. The news is not extremely positive for the…
