With no economic reports on Wednesday and bond markets closed for the Veteran’s Day, Wall Street was witness to a quiet trading session, but stocks managed to inch higher on expectations interest rates would remain at a record low for some time.  Also, strong Chinese manufacturing and retail sales data lifted investor sentiments.  Gold prices touched an all-time high.  

The Dow Jones industrial average, which hit an intraday high of 10,341, advanced 44 points, or 0.4%, to close at 10,291.26. The S&P 500 added 6 points, or 0.5%, to close at 1,098.51, and the tech-laden Nasdaq composite rose 16 points, or 0.7%, to end the day at 2,166.90.  On the New York Stock Exchange, 19 stocks were higher in price for every 11 that declined

Nine of the ten S&P500 industry groups ended in the green, with financials (+1.3%), basic materials (+1.0%) and technology (+0.7%) leading the gainers.  Utilities

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U.S. stocks suffered moderate declines Thursday as worries about a key report on U.S. job losses weighed on sentiments.  Traders remained hesitant and cut positions as a number of disappointing July same store sales reports added to waning optimism that the recession is losing its grip.  Healthcare issues fell after JP Morgan downgraded the sector to underweight.  A $2 billion extension of the successful clunkers program failed to lift moods on the Street either.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 25 points, or 0.3% and the broader S&P 500 index fell 5 points, or 0.6%. The technology-focused Nasdaq retreated 20 points, or 1%.    

This morning, the July jobs report surprised as the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers shed fewer jobs in July.  That unemployment rate dipped to 9.4% against expectations of a 9.6% fall helped calm shaky nerves and pushed stock futures sharply higher.  The Labor Department noted

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The yen slipped on Tuesday in choppy trade while the dollar struggled against most currencies as earnings of Goldman Sachs and U.S. retail sales surpassed expectations, stoking modest hopes for an economic recovery

But traders were cautious ahead of quarterly results from other U.S. banks, while lackluster data from Germany weighed on the euro and kept it rooted in a broad range against the dollar.

The slight rise in risk appetite also boosted higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar at the expense of both the yen and U.S. dollar, which tend to see their biggest gains when investors grow anxious and buy them as safe havens.

“Retail sales were better than expected, so that’s a bit of good news, but there’s been little follow-through as the market is uncertain which way it wants to trade,” said Greg Salvaggio, vice president of trading at Tempus Consulting in Washington.

The retail sales data came with

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div style="text-align: justify;"Merrill Lynch/BAM is upgrading span style="font-weight: bold;"Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS)/span to Buy from Neutral following a modest post-E3 sell-off.br /br /According to the analyst the upgrades is based on 1) expected upside to consensus estimates in 1Q and 2Q with company likely tracking at/above their early FY10 internal plan, 2) strength of Sims 3, Active and Need for Speed franchises likely driving improved investor sentiment on EA’sbr /execution, 3) catalysts and seasonality with the summer period historically giving the best return on EA’s stock and the firm sees several upcoming catalysts. span style="font-weight: bold;"Merrill is $100mn above consensus in F1Q (June) and F2Q and their bias is that Street estimates move higher for FY10/FY11 over next 90 days, as key Active and Sims titles should have catalog and sequel strength./spanbr /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Multiple catalysts/spanbr /In addition to 1Q/2Q upside, they see the following catalysts helping drive improved investor ...

By Kevin Lings

Stats SA have released the retail sales data for March 2009. According to this latest survey, retail sales fell by a substantial 5.3%y/y in real terms in March. This compares with a revised decline of 4.4%y/y in February. The March decline is the weakest retail sales number in more than a decade. The market was expecting a decrease of 5.5%y/y in March.

Next month’s April retail sales data is also expected to be weak given the large number of public holidays in the month, although the increase in sporting events may have had some offsetting effect.

Importantly, in the three months to March 2009, retail sales were down 2.9%y/y, in real terms. (Unfortunately, Stats SA does not produce a seasonally adjusted m/m number for retail sales, which means it is not possible to calculate an accurate q/q estimate

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Gold tracked back from its lows on Thursday as the dollar retreated from earlier highs, with worse-than-expected U.S. macro data and weaker European equity markets fuelling doubts a recent winning streak was sustainable.

Higher-than-expected U.S. jobless claims and producer prices data helped precious metals erase larger losses from earlier in the day.

This followed a fall in U.S. retail sales data on Wednesday, which dented sentiment that had boosted equity and commodity markets and signalled the economy’s troubles were far from over.

Spot gold was at $925.55 per ounce at 1407 GMT, from $925.45 late in New York on Wednesday, when it touched a six-week high on buying by gold-backed exchange-traded funds.

“The jobs data is worse than forecast,” said James Moore, an analyst at The Bullion Desk.com. “It’s a bit of a reality check that maybe the recession in the U.S. is going to

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Corporate earnings will take center stage again this week as certain financials hope to follow last week’s upbeat announcement by banking giant Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) with some decent earnings reports of their own.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) reports tomorrow (Tuesday), while JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) reports Thursday, and Citigroup Inc (C) reports on Friday.

While the chief executives of several of the largest U.S. banks were quick to announce favorable showings for the first two months of the year, analysts are concerned that the strong showings may not have carried over into March, and that the performances of some of these money-centered banks may disappoint.

Contradictions hit the financials last week as diverse reports about Morgan Stanley (MS) and Wells Fargo brought even more confusion to a sector that

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U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as investors bet the U.S. economic downturn may be easing following reports on fourth-quarter economic growth and weekly jobless claims that landed roughly in line with expectations.

Standouts in the broad run-up included shares of Best Buy , up 11.3 percent to $37.24 after the electronics chain’s quarterly profit topped estimates and its yearly outlook boosted optimism about consumer spending.

Retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc was among the top boosts on the Dow, rising more than 2 percent to $52.88, while the S&P retail index gained nearly 5 percent.

Shares of natural resources companies rose along with higher commodity prices. Shares of steel maker Nucor rose 5.6 percent to $41.25 and U.S. Steel Corp was up 5.9 percent to $24.86.

“Obviously the tide is shifting. We’ve gone from every piece of news being incrementally bad

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Mike Englund says an uptick in global trade will be the key to reviving U.S. growth. He tells you which sectors will benefit most.

 

Mike Englund is chief economist at Action Economics LLC. He is a specialist in Federal Reserve policies and the U.S. economy. Before joining the Boulder, Colo.-based research firm, Englund was the chief economist for MMS International. His background also includes serving as Standard & Poor's chief market economist.

On Monday, IndexUniverse.com's Murray Coleman caught up with Englund as he was assessing the latest U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve moves to buy so-called "toxic" assets and strengthen credit flows in U.S. markets.

 

IndexUniverse.com (IU): Is the current stock market rally sustainable?

Mike Englund, chief economic, Action Economics LLC (Englund): In the past two months, we've seen evidence that the rate of collapse in the U.S. economy seems to be slowing. Essentially, it's coming primarily [from an uptick] on

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Eyes on U.S. jobless and retail sales data at 1330 GMT… U.S. crude stockpiles rise more than expected… IEA cuts global oil demand forecast…

Oil slipped further below $36 a barrel on Thursday as worries over the health of the global economy and forecasts for a hefty fall in global energy demand weighed on sentiment.

Global economic downturn is taking its toll on oil consumption and supply still appears to be outstripping demand in many parts of the world, despite production cuts by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Oil prices continued to weaken despite a deal in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday on $789 billion in new spending and tax cuts.

U.S. light crude for March delivery was down 54 cents at $35.40 at 1124 GMT.

London Brent crude was up 21 cents at $44.49, stretching its premium

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