May 2nd 2014 – Stocks Slip Amid Ukraine Worries

Market View:

A rather sleep start to May.  Fact is the S&P 500 has declined 2 days in a row now, letting of some steam before it takes its new all-time high in my opinion.  I expect it to happen early next week.

Great jobs report.  That will put pressure on the next one to top this one.  Even last months report was revised higher.

Market News:

U.S. stocks declined today, losing gains that had lifted the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 above their record closes, as rising unrest in Ukraine offset a better-than-expected April jobs report.

On Friday, Russia requested an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council over a Ukrainian army operation.  While Obama met with Germany’s chancellor Merkel to join forces against Russian influence in the Ukraine.

Gold futures erased a loss to turn higher, as did the CBOE Volatility Index, a measure of investor uncertainty, which pulled above 13.

The U.S. Labour Department reported the creation of 288,000 jobs in April from an upwardly revised 203,000 in March, with the jobless rate at 6.3 percent. Expectations called for the addition of 210,000 jobs during April. Analysts polled by Reuters also saw unemployment falling to 6.6 percent.

After climbing above its all-time closing high set on April 30, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 45.98 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,512.89, with Merck & Co., Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer pacing losses that included 18 of 30 components.

European markets finished mixed, while Asian markets mostly moved forward Friday, but the gains were modest