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Non-Farm Payrolls Improve!
This morning, the US Non-Farm Payrolls report was the catalyst that has pushed the market higher as all eyes were glued to this news. The report came in better than expected, showing that payrolls decreased 54K vs. an expectation of a loss of 105K, but 67K private sector jobs were added. The unemployment rate came in at 9.6%. While these numbers are far from excellent, the news that they were not worse than expected is seen as an encouraging sign that the economy here in the US may not be as bad as was previously thought. The major challenge that the US economy is facing is how to put people back to work Continue reading
Eurozone Retail Sales Make Slight Gain
Retail sales for the eurozone region rose slightly in July, gaining 0.1 percent after a 0.2 percent gain in June. Several of the smaller member nations recorded more significant gains including a 3.0 percent increase in Portugal and a 2.9 percent increase in Malta. Continue reading
Oil Dips Below $75 a Barrel
Oil prices were off slightly as investors digested the latest US Employment Report, falling by 35 cents at $74.67 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, oil gained $1.11 to $75.02 a barrel Continue reading
54,000 US Jobs Lost Last Month
The US Labor Report brought more discouraging employment news today as for the third month in a row, jobs continued to evaporate. In August, 54,000 jobs were lost, lifting overall unemployment to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent. The one bright note was the private sector created more jobs than expected during the month with 67,000 new positions filled. Continue reading
NFP or Russian Roulette anyone
It’s like attending a bingo session. All eyes will be down waiting for the highly anticipated employment print this morning. Will this week’s ADP report translate into a much weaker jobs number? Continue reading
US Weekly Jobless Claims Fall to 472,000
New claims for jobless benefits for the week ending August 28th fell by 6,000 to 472,000 compared to the previous week. Continue reading
ECB Raises Growth Forecast
The European Central Bank lifted its growth prediction for the eurozone region to between 1.4 and 1.8 percent for this year, and for between 0.5 and 2.3 percent for next year. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said the eurozone recovery has been supported by global growth and reflected “temporary domestic factors”. Continue reading
NFP herding us to No Mans Land
Better industrial data out of China and the surprising ISM print in the US has every, already confused trader, becoming ‘more lost’ in whatever convictions they have left. At least we have the NFP crap-shoot still to come, that is bound to surprise. Continue reading
Growth By Contraction!
In what seemingly is a contradiction, Europe is proving that you can grow by shrinking. If you don’t believe that’s possible, look no further than the EU GDP figures reported this morning. GDP figures came in showing growth of 1.9% vs. an expectation of 1.7%. But wait a second, isn’t the EU enacting austerity measures Continue reading
Hello September!
The markets this morning are clearly relieved to be done with the month of August which was a doozy for equities and commodities. On this first day of September, risk appetite has returned to the market as US stock futures are higher on the heels of Asian and European stock market gains. Continue reading