Thursday, April 01, 2010

The Market On Thursday

Welcome to April

How about that, a circuit judge in California found that George Bush's illegal wiretapping was illegal. Tell us something we don't know. Exactly what will happen - nothing. Bush is off limits. Republicans will rally to his defense of course, and other politicos will make meaningless statements about how we learned from this experience. Garbage.

At 8:15 a.m. futures are moderately up, and check this out, oil is up over $84 per barrel. I could be wrong but that might be the highest level for oil in quite some time.

Investors are cheered on by good news from Japan, China, and Europe. Basically orders and manufacturing are up. People are out there throwing more money around.

On the other hand, the US is still cutting jobs. The employment numbers although not as severe by any means as last year at this time, are still poor. The keywords are no job growth yet Lucy.

CNN: Stocks poised to open higher
A report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. showed that planned job cuts accelerated in March.


Employers announced plans to cut 67,611 jobs in March, Challenger said. That's up 61% from February, when 42,090 jobs were lost, the lowest level in nearly four years.


U.S. light crude oil for May delivery rallied 62 cents to $84.37 a barrel.
Reuters: Futures up on upbeat data from China, Europe
...China's vast manufacturing sector shifted gears in March as orders climbed, two business surveys showed Thursday, pointing to brisk first-quarter GDP growth.

And manufacturing activity in the euro zone grew at its fastest pace in over three years last month, and faster than previously recorded.

Japan's business morale improved in March for the fourth consecutive quarter and to the highest in more than a year, a Bank of Japan survey showed.

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