Market and Arkansas Razorbacks Achieve Goals

It was a good week for the stock market and the Arkansas Razorbacks.Encouraged by a positive employment report and a promising result from the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing survey,the Dow logged a 1.17% weekly gain,while the NASDAQ led the way with a 2.65 uptick and the S&P added 1.61 to its ledger.
Some dismissed the expansion of employment by 200,000 jobs in December as a result of seasonal hiring.They also pointed out that the number of long term unemployed remains at 5.6 million.The Euro-zone debt crisis,Iranian behavior and U.S. deficit issue remain significant headwinds as well.
The Arkansas Razorbacks won their school record 11th football game of the season as they soundly beat the Kansas State Wildcats 29-13 in the AT&T Cotton Bowl in Arlington,Texas.It was the Razorbacks' fourth Cotton Bowl trophy,the last one being earned in the year 2000.The game was held at the NFL's largest venue,Cowboy Stadium,before a spirited sellout crowd of 80,000.
AT&T,which is based in nearby Dallas,has been a Cotton Bowl sponsor for 16 years.
Next week,earnings season begins as Alcoa reports its Q4 results on Monday.Also on Monday,German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on European financial problems.In addition,retail sales and consumer sentiment reports could color the market's performance.The S&P futures rose 1.10 on Friday evening,and bond index futures edged higher as well.
AT&T(T)

Matteson Leads Deutsche Bank Championship

American golfer Troy Matteson leads the Deutsche Bank Championship after the first round on Friday.Matteson,31,shot an excellent six under par 65 as the second leg of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup got underway near Boston.Dustin Johnson won the first leg last weekend,The Barclays.
Finishing second on the leader board Friday were American Jerry Kelly;South Korean Y.E. Yang;England's Luke Donald,the world number one;and South African Charl Schwartzel.These all shot a five under par 66.
Matteson,the leader,is a product of Georgia Tech.This year,he has two top ten finishes on the PGA Tour to his credit.His earnings amount to 916,012 dollars so far,ranking him 91 on the money list.
Unlike Matteson,the market had a poor Friday and a negative week,hindered by a flat jobs report and renewed European debt concerns.The S&P 500 Index was down 2.48 for the week.
Stock futures were decidedly negative Friday evening,suggesting a rough opening on Tuesday after the Labor Day holiday.The S&P futures plummeted 32.0,while the longer bond index futures climbed.Gold futures rocketed to 1876.90 an ounce,but oil fell to 86.45 a barrel on recession fears.

Don Fails To Satisfy Texas

The residents of south Texas had seen Tropical Storm Don as the hope of their drought-stricken lives;at least initially,it was nothing of the sort.By the time Don reached the Gulf coast,it had been downgraded to a tropical depression.Don seemed to be too weak to significantly penetrate the dry air mass that has been parked there.Scattered showers brought less than an inch of rain to some Texas locations,but the rainfall deficit is on the order of 17 inches.
It is the worst drought in the recorded history of Texas.Agricultural losses from it will inevitably hit consumers in the pocketbook with headline inflation.
Wall Street was disappointed in a Congress that failed to deliver an end to the sovereign debt crisis.In consequence,it had the worst week of the year.The Dow dropped 4.24,and the S&P lost 3.92 as the NASDAQ followed them down 3.58.A dry GDP report didn't help.The nation's economy grew at a worse than expected 1.3% in Q2.That's not enough to create jobs.
The Jefferies/Reuters CRB commodities index fell 0.8 on Friday.Oil was down to 95.70 a barrel,but gold notched a record 1621.20 an ounce in the uncertain economic environment.
The Washington Nationals couldn't create victory,losing their sixth in a row to the New York Mets 8-5 at Nationals Park.The Mets' Jason Bay went 2-4 with a run and RBI to his credit.Reliever Jason Isringhausen,38,successfully closed the game out for the Mets,with whom he started his long major league career in 1995.
Next week sees the release of the critical July employment report.The S&P futures weren't looking forward to it,losing a further 8.40.The longer maturity bond index futures rose.

Pueblo Faces Wind as Rockies Win

Pueblo County,Colorado braved fierce winds and quarter-sized hail as thunderstorms rocked the Front Range this evening.At 6:52 pm,a gust of 78 mph was recorded,and a semi truck was knocked over on its side 5 miles east of Pueblo.
Meanwhile,the Colorado Rockies were playing ball back east in Washington.They bested the Washington Nationals 3-2 as closer Houston Street blanked the Nats,striking out two in the ninth inning.The Rockies have won four straight games against the Nats,and the last 15 out of 18 contests with the Nats.
The stock market faced the winds of a poor employment report on Friday.Nonetheless,it managed a slight gain on the week,with the Dow up 0.59,the NASDAQ adding 1.55,and the S&P improving by the hair of 0.31,supported by strong manufacturing data from the Institute for Supply Management.June was the 23rd consecutive month of expansion in the sector,with new orders and production up modestly and employment rising a strong 1.7%.
Next week will see the start of earnings season as companies report their Q2 results.Alcoa reports on Monday,while JP Morgan Chase goes on Thursday along with Google.Citigroup checks in on Friday,and the Empire State manufacturing report will also be released at that time.
The futures were still affected by nerves Friday evening,as the S&P dropped 9.90.Oil futures also fell,losing 2.46,while gold and bond index futures hiked upward.
Alcoa(AA),Citigroup(C),Google(GOOG),JP Morgan Chase(JPM)

Jays Lose,But Canadian Powers Nats Win

The Toronto Blue Jays could not deliver a victory to fans on Canada Day,losing 7-6 as the Philidelphia Phillies came from behind to win Friday afternoon in Toronto.Canadian Matt Stairs,however,celebrated his homeland's birthday with a walk-off base hit,earning a 2-1 win for his team,the Washington Nationals,over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Nationals Park Friday evening.
Reliever Chris Resop had shut the Nats down with his fastballs in the eighth inning,but the veteran Stairs came through in the bottom of the ninth with his second RBI in a Nationals uniform.It was a nice hit,Stairs said;it was a good feeling.
Traders were having a good feeling on Friday as well,with all three major averages logging a successful week at the closing bell.The Dow rose 5.4 on the week,and the NASDAQ gained 6.2,while the broadly-based S&P added 5.6.The Jefferies-Reuters CRB Index showed a commodities loss of 0.4.
The S&P futures continued the rally,up 19.30,while bond index futures declined.
The holiday-shortened next week will test the rally with several data points,including the ISM service sector reading;factory orders;chain store sales;and the crucial employment report on Friday.

Wall Street Marks Losses,Blue Jays Win

Wall Street began June with its fifth straight week of losses,which is not surprising in that,historically,June has been a poor month for the stock market.Remarkably,all three major averages were down 2.3 on the week,as though giving a unanimous thumbs down to working at vacation time.
A gravely disappointing employment report got Friday off to a miserable start,with only 54,000 jobs being created in May,steeply down from April's 231,000.Labor Secretary Hilda Solis admitted that it does keep her up at night,because she knows that they have to do a better job at creating jobs.
Earlier in the week,the Institute for Supply Management issued its manufacturing survey,which also indicated a serious slowdown from April's readings.Manufacturing activity tumbled from 60.4 to 53.5 in May,and new orders followed suit,dropping from 61.7 to 51.0.Readings above 50 in the highly regarded report signify expansion.
Residents of Massachusetts waged their own struggle as they regrouped following a fatal tornado on Wednesday.The half-mile wide storm ripped through the communities of Springfield and Monson,killing four and sending a debris ball up to a height of 6,000 feet.At high elevations in the Rockies,winter weather advisories are posted for the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges,where late spring snow could total up to 7 inches.
The Toronto Blue Jays did not have to struggle as they clipped the Baltimore Orioles 8-4 Friday night in Baltimore.The win put the Jays above .500 again.The teams smacked 10 hits each,but the Orioles were also charged with an error.The Blue Jays' J.P. Arencibia hit a grand slam homer in the fifth inning and starting pitcher Carlos Villanueva climbed to a 3-0 record after having been promoted from the bullpen.
A relatively light data week is ahead for Wall Street,with the Federal Reserve's anecdotal Beige Book report slated for release,as is the World Bank's World Economic Outlook.The S&P futures lost 16.10 Friday evening,while bond index futures rose.

Britannia Rules Airwaves,Earnings Rule Market

If you notice that you're starting to speak with a slightly British accent,it isn't surprising,given the royal wedding mania that has swept through the televised world.And why shouldn't it have,given the tough row most people have to hoe?A diversion like that is a welcome relief for the average person.It's an extra holiday.
For its part,the market was living out its own fairy story this week,as corporate earnings continued to please,for the most part.When good earnings are rolling in,economic reality such as poor housing figures and persistently high unemployment may be shoved aside for a while.
Analysts caution,however,that gains in the second half of the year could slow down quite a bit as companies find it increasingly difficult to post the type of results that characterized the last few years.
For the week,however,the Dow was up 2.44,while the S&P rose 1.95 and the NASDAQ 1.89.The Dow and S&P closed at their highest since 2008,and the NASDAQ hasn't been this elevated since the year 2000.
Next week,the earnings parade goes on as General Motors,Pfizer,Kraft Foods and AIG share their results for Q1.The Institute for Supply Management will release its April purchasing manager surveys,and the unemployment report will close out the week.
Stock futures were largely positive Friday evening,with the S&P futures up 4.80,the Dow futures adding 48.00 and the NASDAQ retreating a little,down 1.00.
Winter isn't retreating in some areas.Blizzard warnings are up for the Northern Plains.As much as nine inches of snow are expected in northern North Dakota and adjacent areas.
Kraft Foods(KFT),General Motors(GM),Pfizer(PFE),American International Group(AIG)

Reds Blow Early Lead

The Cincinnati Reds blew an early four-run lead over Philadelphia in Game 2 of the National League Division Series,losing by a score of 7-4.A series of fielding mistakes,combined with several hit batters and scrappy Phillies play led to the Reds' downfall in Philadelphia,leaving them 0-2 in the series,which moves to Cincinnati for Sunday's third and possibly final game.This was surprising,given the Reds' reputation for error-free baseball this season.Perhaps they were distracted by the thousands of raucous fans waving their white rally towels for the Fightin' Phils.
Wall Street traders were not distracted today,sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average back up over 11000 for the first time in five months.The flat September
employment report made them feel certain the Federal Reserve will take more action before the year's end to bolster the economy.All three major indexes were up modestly for the week,with the S&P 500 scoring a gain of 1.7.Since the July market lows,materials are up 24%;retail 20%;and industrials 19%.
Optimism carried over into the futures market this evening,with the Dow futures up 35.0;the NASDAQ gaining 6.75;and the S&P futures climbing 4.10.Bond futures were virtually flat.

Manufacturing Slows,Jobs Feeble

The manufacturing sector slowed worldwide recently,the latest data show.This was the one area of the economy that seemed a sure thing.The Institute for Supply Management charted a fall-off in activity,however,from 59.7 in May to 56.2 in June.It is still expanding if the number is above 50-just at a slower pace now.Factory orders fell 1.4% in another report,the largest drop since March of 2009.The question arises whether we are backing and filling or going over a cliff.We'll have to wait till at least next week to know,when earnings season gets underway.
The big report of the week,the unemployment figures from the Labor Department,were hardly reassuring.A loss of 125,000 jobs was recorded last month,while private industry created 83,000 positions.We need 150,000 a month to make a dent in unemployment.In consequence,the stock market clocked out with another weekly loss.The S&P fell 5.0,while the Dow stumbled 4.5 and the NASDAQ also slipped 5.0.The S&P futures registered a further decline of 7.5,and bond futures also gave up ground ahead of the Independence Day holiday.We are down 15% now from the market high of last April.The red returning to portfolios makes it feel like a lot more than 15%.
Boston Red Sox fans forgot about this as the Sox edged Baltimore 3-2 tonight behind 43-year old pitcher Tim Wakefield.In the AT&T National tournament at Aronimink in Newtown,Pennsylvania,Tiger Woods made the cut,shooting a mediocre 70,+3,and Justin Rose topped the leader board at the close of day two.

Stocks Break Through Level

The S&P 500 broke through a key technical level on Friday,down 12.8% from its April high.Such a move indicates a prospect for further substantive declines.There's nothing technical holding stocks back from falling into bear territory now.It was the market's second biggest drop of the year,leaving it at its lowest point since February,spooked by Hungary's warning that it could well default on its debt and a lackluster employment report.Indeed,the report calls into question the economy's ability to stay out of a double dip recession,with private sector job growth coming in at a mere 41,000,far less than estimated and less than in previous months.Companies were simply just not hiring to any extent;instead,they increased hours worked by existing employees to cover any new orders.This will neither help the 15,000,000 jobless nor spur consumer spending,seen as critical to recovery.
The S&P futures were down 37.50 on Friday evening,and bond futures climbed.For the week,the S&P fell 2.3,while the Dow lost 2.0 and the NASDAQ slipped 1.7.
The baseball world will be watching Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg make his major league debut on Tuesday in the nation's capital.With a huge reputation for excellence preceding his arrival,anything less than a shutout will be a letdown for the jazzed D.C. sellout crowd.Seldom if ever has so much been expected of a rookie.Few cautionary voices are to be heard above the happy talk,voices who remember that the lower echelons of pro baseball are just not the same as the major leagues.There is a quantum leap that a rookie has to make,whether his name is Strasburg or not.

Headwinds Hinder Market

A number of headwinds both global and domestic conspired to keep the market in a trading range this week.In foreign news,Spain's credit rating was lowered a notch by Fitch,one of the three ratings agencies who played a controversial role in precipitating the financial crisis.Tensions between the two Koreas remained high over North Korea's sinking of a South Korean navy vessel,killing dozens of sailors.Domestically,the moratorium on deep-sea oil drilling threw earnings estimates of energy firms into question;the Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index missed estimates;and consumer spending came in unexpectedly flat.A market without buy and hold sentiment resulted from the swirl of events casting doubt on the recovery that had seemed so promising a few months ago.Twenty percent of retail investors say they are sitting in cash for at least the next three years,to the chagrin of brokerages.
Next week,the employment report will garner a lot of media attention,but overseas events could well eclipse it in the minds of worried investors.If a second credit freeze is really upon us,any gains in employment would have to be seen as suspect.They would be hard to sustain in the context of poor macro-economic conditions.Consequently,the S&P futures were down 12.60 this evening,while bond futures rose.
The Toronto Blue Jays held sway over the Baltimore Orioles with a 5-0 lead,while Philadelphia and Florida were tied 2-2.Phil Mickelson will attempt to achieve the number one ranking in professional golf this weekend,a designation that has so far eluded him.

Manufacturing,Jobs Looking Better

The holiday-shortened trading week was capped off today by a positive employment report,with the private sector yielding more than 120,000 new jobs-the biggest gain since the recession began.Manufacturing reports contained strong data worldwide.Bonds were traded on Good Friday,with most Treasuries ending somewhat down,while stock futures reacted with an upswing,signaling a possibly good resumption of trading on Monday.
Christians were thinking of Jerusalem,a city of great and holy events commemorated at this time.They may have given some thought to finance,but their hearts were elsewhere today,in the midst of their faith that is rooted in the Middle East.Unfortunately,the Israeli-Palestinian conflict boiled over in Gaza,but Jerusalem itself wasn't in the bad news of the world.Pilgrims carried large wooden crosses in procession,retracing the last hours before Christ's crucifixion.The Western and Orthodox churches are celebrating Easter at the same time this year,unlike the usual divergence of calendars.
To all Christians,the happiest Easter to you and to yours.

Nordic Combined Bests Market

The market ended the week with fractional gains,and volume for the month was light-down 8.3% from January's.It is a market without conviction,waiting to see what Washington and Brussels will do about the issues of the day,and concerned about discouraged consumers and weak housing numbers.The S&P futures were up slightly this evening,but next week's performance will hinge on the employment report for February.
The U.S. Nordic Combined skiers had plenty of conviction,however,moving into the uncharted territory of Olympic medals.Bill Demong took the gold in the large hill competition,while Team U.S.A. won silver in the team event and Johnny Spillane earned three silver medals in the three contests.The Americans have ended European domination of the Nordic Combined,which has to be one of the more satisfying achievements at the Vancouver Olympics for U.S. fans.

Another Mixed Report

Today's employment report was mixed.While the number of August jobless claims was less than July's by 60,000,the unemployment rate was up to 9.7% from 9.4%.Fewer people were laid off,but the total number of job seekers was greater.The situation on the street was more difficult,not less.Only a trader could see that as good news.Such is the strange world of the financial markets.They are an endless calculus of past,present and future,at once fascinating intellectually and detached from daily life,while at the same time affecting the destiny of retirees and other investors.Those who participate in them can only have feelings as mixed as the recent data have been,excited by their work yet commiserating with their countrymen.