Groundhog Day
Good grief, it’s groundhog day in the S&P 500. Once again, it threatened to actually go somewhere only to fail once more.
I have to say I am getting a little concerned about the inability to move higher. We seem to be churning back and forth to the same prices over and over.
Technically the charts look like they have bottomed with a distinct possibility of a more permanent move higher in the next 2 days. But it will be news dependent via the Greece saga and the monthly jobs report on Friday.
Today’s wild swings shows just how trend-less the market has been. It is going to blast off in one direction, as it’s coiling like a spring, and my belief is that the direction will be up.
Market News:
U.S. stocks closed higher on Wednesday despite a sharp rally in bond yields as investors found encouragement in signs of economic growth and coming resolution in the Greece debt talks.
The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book said economic activity expanded at a modest to moderate pace, a view affirmed by the morning’s data reports on private payrolls, the service sector and trade.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed off its highs, up about 60 points. The Dow transports continued to recover, closing up 1.2 percent.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras agreed in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on the need for an immediate solution involving a lower primary budget surplus target for Greece, a Greek official said in a Reuters report.Athens warned it could miss a 300 million euro payment due to the International Monetary Fund this Friday.
European stocks closed mostly higher as investors eyed Greece negotiations and unchanged central bank policy.
At a press conference Wednesday European Central Bank Mario Draghi reaffirmed the continuation of ECB’s asset purchase program and said the central bank wants Greece to stay in the euro zone. He would not comment on the Greece debt talks. Earlier in the day, the ECB left the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.05 percent, as expected.
Ahead of the highly-anticipated nonfarm payrolls report due Friday, U.S. data continued to show moderate growth in the second quarter.The ISM non-manufacturing index for May came in at 55.7, nearly a year low. Analysts expected the figure to slip to 57 in May from 57.8 in April. The U.S. Markit PMI Services read for May showed a slight decline from April and came in below expectations at 56.2.
ADP private sector payrolls increased 201,000 in May, with the service sector boosting the figure to above the expected 200,000.The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in April as exports of services hit a record high and imports fell. The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday said that the U.S. trade gap shrunk to $40.9 billion in April, the largest decrease since early 2009 and down from March’s revised deficit of $50.6 billion.
The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDP Model showed the U.S. economy is on track to grow 1.1 percent, up from a 0.8 percent growth projection on Monday.Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said the fact that Federal Reserve policymakers are talking about possibly raising U.S. interest rates this year signals the progress that has been been made on the economic front, Reuters reported.
Thursday:8:30 am: Initial claims8:30 am: Productivity
12:00 pm: Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo on economy
Earnings: JM Smuckers, Lands End, Joy Global, Ciena, Diamond Foods,Cooper Cos, Verifone