Blinded by the Sun

A generally perceived positive employment report has stocks higher and gold lower today. Gold is also lower on dollar strength as treasury yields rise on the apparently improving economy. We will have more to say about the details of the report later today or tomorrow morning. However, even the government’s reporting this month showed unemployment and underemployment higher despite reportedly strong job creation. I have to wonder if investors have been blinded by the sun this holiday weekend, as the world I see around me is full of darkness. For more in-depth analysis and research visit our stock market blog.

Market ETF	July 5, 2013	Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)	+0.7%	+14.0%
SPDR Dow Jones (DIA)	+0.7%	+15.2%
PowerShares (QQQ)	+0.4%	+11.1%

Economic Events

ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior Period	Expected	Actual
FRIDAY
Employment Report (Rate)	7.6%	7.5%	7.6%
-Nonfarm Payrolls	+195K (R)	+161K	+195K
-Private Nonfarm Payrolls	+207K (R)	+175K	+202K
-Average Hourly Earnings	+0.1%	+0.2%	+0.4%
-Average Workweek	34.5	34.5	34.5
-U6 Underemployment	13.8%		14.3%

Economically speaking, the day is completely focused on the Monthly Employment Situation Report result. Looking solely at the headline nonfarm payroll spike and prior month revision higher, plus a solid increase in private activity, you would think the situation was excellent. However, the unemployment rate deterioration reported offers a red flag. Looking more closely at the U-6 underemployment rate, we see that those not adequately measured by the report were numerous. As a result, the U-6 underemployment rate figure deteriorated sharply. We also saw the Labor Force Participation Rate improve for the second straight month, to 63.5%; some believe this is the result of people coming back into the workforce who had previously given up on work. It’s a good thing, but it sheds light on the true situation around unemployment, which is much worse than most have thought it to be.

Overseas Markets

EUROPE	9:27 AM ET	ASIA/PACIFIC	CLOSE
EURO STOXX 50	-0.7%	NIKKEI 225	+2.1%
German DAX	-1.3%	Hang Seng	+1.9%
CAC 40	-0.4%	S&P/ASX 200	+1.0%
FTSE 100	-0.0%	Korean KOSPI	-0.3%
Egyptian EGX 30	+7.3%	BSE India SENSEX	+0.4%

Commodity Markets (8:54 AM ET)

WTI Crude	+0.5%
Brent Crude	+0.8%
NYMEX Natural Gas	-2.4%
RBOB Gasoline	+0.6%
Gold Spot	-2.1%
Silver Spot	-2.9%
COMEX Copper	-3.4%
CBOT Corn	-0.7%
CBOT Wheat	+0.7%
CBOT Soybeans	-0.4%
ICE Cocoa	-0.4%
ICE Sugar	-0.6%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	+0.1%
CME Live Cattle	+0.0%

The “good news” reported this morning drove gold and silver lower, but copper dropped as well, so the economic perspective was fogged by too much noise. Static emanating from Egypt, for one, has oil prices rising again today. The new Egyptian government reportedly raised a state of emergency for the Suez Canal area as supporters of President Morsi, and of democracy, began to rally.

Corporate Events

REPORTING EARNINGS
Company	Ticker
FRIDAY
L.J. International	Nasdaq: JADE
Daxor	NYSE: DXR
GenCorp	NYSE: GY
SciClone Pharmaceuticals	Nasdaq: SCLN

MOST ACTIVE STOCKS
BIGGEST GAINERS	% Gain
VelocityShares 3X Inverse Brent (Nasdaq: DOIL)	+21%
Maxcom Telecom (NYSE: MXT)	+19%
Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear (Nasdaq: DUST)	+16%
VelocityShares 3X Inverse Silver (Nasdaq: DSLV)	+13%
Standard Register (NYSE: SR)	+12%
DURECT Corp. (Nasdaq: DRRX)	+9%
ProShares Ultra Short Silver (NYSE: ZSL)	+9%
Oxygen Biotherapeutics (Nasdaq: OXBT)	+3%
VelocityShares 3X Inverse Gold (Nasdaq: DGLD)	+9%
Ambit Biosciences (Nasdaq: AMBI)	+8%
BIGGEST LOSERS	% Drop
TCF Financial (NYSE: TCB.WT)	-19%
Kingtone WirelessInfo (Nasdaq: KONE)	-18%
TrovaGene (Nasdaq: TROVU)	-16%
Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull (Nasdaq: NUGT)	-14%
Linn Co. (Nasdaq: LNCO)	-11%
VelocityShares 3X Long Silver (Nasdaq: USLV)	-13%
Intelligent Systems (NYSE: INS)	-5%
Retail Opportunity Investments (Nasdaq: ROICW)	-NA%
Western Asset Mortgage Capital (NYSE: WMC)	-9%
ETRACS Monthly Pay 2XLeveraged (Nasdaq: MORL)	-10%

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.