UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS UP (Bloomberg)
“The number of Americans filing applications for
unemployment benefits rose last week as employers continued to adjust staffing
levels following the holidays. Jobless claims climbed by 8,000 to 285,000 in the week
ended Jan. 30…” Story at…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-04/jobless-claims-in-u-s-rise-as-post-holiday-adjustments-continue
My cmt: This is the third report in a row that was higher
than 280,000.
FACTORY ORDERS FALL (CBS Money Watch)
“Orders to U.S. factories for long-lasting manufactured
goods tumbled in December, with a key category that tracks business investment
plans falling for a second straight month. Durable goods orders dropped 5.1
percent in December following a 0.5 percent decline in November…” Story at…
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-factory-orders-take-a-dive-in-december/
PRODUCTIVITY (Bloomberg)
“Worker productivity slumped in the fourth quarter by the
most in almost two years, leading to a pickup in U.S. labor costs that threaten
corporate profits. The measure of employee output per hour of work decreased at
a 3 percent annualized rate in the final three months of last year, the most
since the first quarter 2014.” Story at…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-04/u-s-productivity-falls-most-since-early-2014-labor-costs-jump
MARKET REPORT / ANALYSIS
I am too busy today to do a full report, so here’s a quick
take on the markets as of about 2:30.
- The Overbought/Oversold Index, AKA the Advance-Decline
Ratio (a Wall St. “classic” indicator based on breadth) again signaled
“overbought” Thursday. That’s a
headwind, but this can remain overbought for some time.
-The Money Trend indicator is neutral and may turn negative
soon. That has been a decent short-term indicator recently.
-I’ll run the numbers later, but I doubt there will be much
change. Market Internals (a short-term trend follower) remains bullish.
-The NTSM Long Term indicator is HOLD, but I have been
out of the market since December because of prior sell-signals.
-There is an imbalance with advancing stocks leading
decliners and up-volume exceeding down-volume. Whether this will be enough to
reverse the slide in S&P 500 today (currently down about 0.2%) remains to be seen.
