Positive Signs for Stocks Today

More good news from the economic wire today should help stocks stabilize and maybe even move higher, especially after the 10:00 AM release of the Pending Home Sales data. We want to remind investors that the data is measuring an old month, though this time it’s May, the period when mortgage rates began rising. That might be enough to reassure investors, especially in homebuilders today, but be careful as the Fed is no longer your friend. We said to sell the homebuilder stocks on strength earlier this week and we still feel that way. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders (NYSE: XHB) and PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM) are worth watching for trend. K.B. Home (NYSE: KBH) reports results today, and will be skewed by its own data. For more in-depth analysis and research visit our stock market blog.

Our founder earned clients a 23% average annual return over five years as a stock analyst on Wall Street. "The Greek" has written for institutional newsletters, Businessweek, Real Money, Seeking Alpha and others, while also appearing across TV and radio. While writing for Wall Street Greek, Mr. Kaminis presciently warned of the financial crisis.

Market ETF	June 27	Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)	NA	+13.0%
SPDR Dow Jones (DIA)	NA	+14.5%
PowerShares (QQQ)	NA	+9.2%

Stock futures were indicating a higher open at 9:00 AM ET.

Economic Events

Data Point	Prior Period	Expected	Actual
THURSDAY
Jobless Claims	354K	345K	346K
Personal Spending	-0.3	+0.4	+0.3%
Core PCE Price Index	+0.0	+0.1	+0.1%
Personal Income	+0.1	+0.2	+0.5%
Pending Home Sales Index	+0.3%	+1.0%
Consumer Comfort	-29.4	NA
Kansas City Fed Index	+2.0	+4.0

Weekly Initial Jobless Claims decreased by 9,000 in the latest reported period, about matching expectations. The four-week moving average for this measure showed a decrease to 345,750, just about where the weekly data point sits. It signifies that the measure has not moved much over the last month, for what that is worth. We would like to see this figure lower to inspire better net job creation.

The Personal Income & Outlays Report for the month of May showed personal spending increased by 0.3%, aided some by a slight 0.1% increase in prices. The Core PCE Price Index, the Fed’s favored inflation gauge, showed prices only rose 0.1% excluding food and energy prices.

Another housing data point today (Pending Home Sales) could reassure housing stock investors, since economists are looking for a significant improvement. We reiterate our call for caution as this data is old, and not reflecting the current realities of Fed tapering in the mortgage market.

Overseas Markets

EUROPE	7:56 AM ET	ASIA/PACIFIC	CLOSE
EURO STOXX 50	+0.1%	NIKKEI 225	+3.0%
German DAX	+0.2%	Hang Seng	+0.5%
CAC 40	+0.2%	S&P/ASX 200	+1.7%
FTSE 100	+0.4%	Korean KOSPI	+2.9%
Greek ASE	-2.6%	BSE India SENSEX	+1.7%

An index measuring European executive and consumer sentiment in Europe rose to a mark of 91.3 in June from 89.5 in May, ahead of economists’ expectations for a reading of 90.4. The news has lent some support to euro-area shares this morning. This is coming off yesterday’s supportive commentary from the ECB’s Mario Draghi, who separated himself from the American central bank’s new policy.

Ireland’s economy shrank for the third consecutive quarter in Q1 on weakness in exports into Europe and the U.K. GDP contracted 0.6% in Q1, after falling by 0.2% in Q4 2012. The New Ireland Fund (NYSE: IRL) was up yesterday on the Draghi comments.

Holding things back today, a general strike against impoverishing austerity in Portugal. This might also be playing in Greece, where stocks are down significantly.

Commodity Markets (7:49 AM ET)

WTI Crude	+0.2%
Brent Crude	+0.4%
NYMEX Natural Gas	-0.9%
RBOB Gasoline	+0.0%
Gold Spot	+0.5%
Silver Spot	+1.1%
COMEX Copper	+0.2%
CBOT Corn	-0.4%
CBOT Wheat	+0.4%
CBOT Soybeans	+0.2%
ICE Cocoa	-0.2%
ICE Sugar	-0.1%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	-4.8%
CME Live Cattle	+0.4%

The EIA Natural Gas Report comes to market this morning at 10:30 AM ET. Last week’s report covering the period ending June 14 showed natural gas in stock increased by 91 Bcf. That put stocks 559 Bcf less than last year’s levels and 47 Bcf below the five-year average. Natural gas prices were down nearly a full point well ahead of the release this morning.

Corporate Events

Company	Ticker
THURSDAY
Schnitzer Steel	Nasdaq: SCHN
Worthington Industries	NYSE: WOR
Winnebago Industries	NYSE: WGO
ConAgra Foods	NYSE: CAG
McCormick & Co.	NYSE: MKC
K.B. Home	NYSE: KBH
OMNOVA	NYSE: OMN
Commercial Metals	NYSE: CMC
CalAmp	Nasdaq: CAMP
Nike	NYSE: NKE
Giga-tronics	Nasdaq: GIGA

Yesterday’s biggest gainers and losers were:

BIGGEST GAINERS	BIGGEST LOSERS
Raptor Pharma (Nasdaq: RPTP)	Northwest Bio (Nasdaq: NWBOW)
Valley Financial (Nasdaq: VYFC)	NanoString Tech (Nasdaq: NSTG)
Vestin Realty (Nasdaq: VRTA)	Mistras Group (NYSE: MG)
LUXOFT Holding (Nasdaq: LXFT)	CombiMatrix (Nasdaq: CBMX)
Real Goods Solar (Nasdaq: RSOL)	Pacific Booker Minerals (NYSE: PBM)
Ballard Power (Nasdaq: BLDP)	Stereotaxis (Nasdaq: STXS)
OptimumBank (Nasdaq: OPHC)	NewLink Genetics (Nasdaq: NLNK)
Novatel Wireless (Nasdaq: NVTL)	SilverCrest Mines (Nasdaq: SVLC)
Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ)	Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT)
Orion Energy (Nasdaq: OESX)	Allied Nevada Gold (NYSE: ANV)

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.