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Bad news on the job front pushed the market lower today, with the S&P 500 down 1.8%, the Dow Industrials down 1.36%, and the NASDAQ down 2.36% at the time of this writing. That’s enough to put the S&P 500 and Dow down so far for 2009, and the NASDAQ barely clinging to a modest gain. The unemployment rate climbed to 7.2%, higher than economists had forecast and the highest in nearly 16 years. 524,000 jobs were lost in December, and a total of 2.589 million were lost in all of 2008. Unlike yesterday, when the market rallied back after early losses, the market is staying down today. Interestingly, though, the CBOE’s VIX volatility index is down .40 to 42.16%. That suggests that there isn’t much panic in today’s sell off. The news may not be good, and the economic uncertainty isn’t giving confidence to the bulls, but traders aren’t putting their crash helmets back on.
Next week’s economic data releases: Dec import/export prices, Dec retail sales, Nov business inventories and weekly crude and gas inventories on Wednesday; Dec PPI, and initial jobless claims on Thursday; and Dec CPI, Dec capacity utilization and industrial production, Jan preliminary Michigan consumer sentiment, and January options expiration on Friday.
Tom Preston
thinkorswim, Inc.
Member FINRA/SIPC/NFA
thinkorswim, Inc. and its registered employee, Tom Preston, do not solicit or recommend any form of trading in the individual stocks (or their derivatives) mentioned above. Please do careful, independent research before investing any money as well as weigh the possible consequences on your particular financial situation before doing so. The risk of loss may be substantial.
