Stock futures slipped a bit as continuing claims, at 484,000, was worse than the 458,000 expected.
This is disappointing, but there is only one reality right now: the wall of money coming into stocks. And it is a force very difficult to fight against.
We get additional economic indicators today...Capacity Utilization, Industrial Production, Philly Fed. Bears — who have been spectacularly wrong and are getting blown out of short positions in banks and industrials — insist that these numbers will start peaking out soon.
Why? One trader tells me that the ISM, for example, is at levels that is typically where they start to stall out. You have had a lot of your inventory rebuild and you still have an end user demand issue.
But we have rising optimism on other economic numbers.
Elsewhere:
1) Three freight companies — UPS, as well as trucking/logistics company Landstar and JB Hunt — all confirmed what railroad CSX had been saying: the shipping business is improving.
Landstar's CEO said Henry Gerkens said, "The freight environment continues to improve...I expect these trends to continue throught the 2010 second quarter."
UPS boosted its guidance for the full year and is trading up about 4 percent.
2) Mariner Energy soars 38 percent after agreeing to be acquired by oil and natural gas producer Apache for $2.7 billion in cash and stock. The deal would give Mariner shareholders a 45 percent premium and would give Apache more access to the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas exploration.
More on Markets & Economy:
- That 47% Who Don't Pay Taxes—Another Look
- Risk of 30-40% Drop in Stocks: Strategist
- Markets to Trend Upward in Next 2-3 Months
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