Stocks finished mixed but mostly higher on Thursday. Major indices started the day relatively flat following successful bond auctions in France and Spain which saw healthy demand and falling yields. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s pledge to support smaller companies in China and speculation that the Chinese government will help banks replenish capital was also welcome news early on.
Here in the U.S., jobless claims continued to show improvement, while Challenger job cuts surged in January. Worker productivity and labor costs also both rose in Q4.
Despite mostly positive news from around the globe and a mixed bag of economic data here in the U.S., Thursday’s session didn’t provide much direction for major indices. The action was sloppy – up in the morning, down in the late morning / early afternoon, and back up again in the late afternoon to finish about even.
The two main reasons for the lack of meaningful direction are – 1) The private sector debt swap negotiations in Greece are still ongoing. A deal was expected earlier in the week, and still has not been reached. Germany and the IMF are holding up progress, which creates uncertainty in the stock market. 2) Friday’s jobs report. With the market overbought, a poor jobs figure could lead to a decent-sized pullback. Traders seemed hesitant to buy this market with the potential downside of Friday’s session looming.
Close Recap: S&P 500 +0.11%, NASDAQ +0.40%, DJIA -0.09%, Midcaps +0.13%.
Have a pleasant evening.
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