U.S. Data Disappoints, Bulls Rebound To Cut Losses
January 31, 2012
Stocks finished narrowly mixed on Tuesday, marking the S&P 500’s first 4-day losing streak since last November. Major indices started the session gaining following increased sentiment surrounding global news and events.
EU leaders signed a historic treaty on Monday night, agreeing to form a new fiscal compact which would be developed in order to stop Eurozone Governments from running up excessive future debts. It was also reported that the Chinese government would begin encouraging pension funds to invest in equities. An FT report on increased LTRO demand and encouraging news regarding a Greek PSI deal also helped stocks gain early on.
Major indices looked to make another push higher given the first 15 minutes of trading. However, the bears would get the ball back after two disappointing economic reports were released. First, the Chicago PMI came in below expectations, marking its lowest level since August 2011. Second, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence reading came in well short of expectations for the month of January. These two reports sent stocks reeling for the majority of the morning.
Major indices would stabilize just above the 1305 mark on the S&P 500 around 12:00pm EST and stage a slow crawl back up for the remainder of the afternoon. Once again the bulls stood their ground and prevented what could have easily been a quick plunge lower.
Looking ahead to the rest of the week, a Reuters article said that debt swap negotiations between Greece and its private creditors could wrap up as early as Wednesday. There are also a bevy of U.S. economic reports for January out Wednesday and Thursday, capped off with the always-important jobs report on Friday.
Close Recap: S&P 500 -0.05%, NASDAQ +0.07 %, DJIA -0.16%, Midcaps -0.12%.
Have a pleasant evening.
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