Good News is Bad News but Still Good News for Some

A similar theme is ringing true again Wednesday. It’s one where economic data is given less weight and where individual earnings reports are swinging indexes, industries and stock sectors. Today’s drivers are of course led by Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), which reported last evening and is on the rise today. Stocks are also moving on a slew of other important names driving the tape today. See the full list of earnings reporters below along with the biggest movers list. As for the economy, the news was mostly good, but investors are reading good macroeconomic news as bad news today, because of expectations that it reinforces the likelihood of Fed tapering. 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.

Good News is Bad News?

Market ETF	July 24, 2013	Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)	-0.4%	+18.3%
SPDR Dow Jones (DIA)	-0.4%	+18.6%
PowerShares (QQQ)	+0.3%	+14.4%

Once again, the variation in the indexes, especially seen in the movement of the NASDAQ versus the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, is explainable by individual earnings reports. Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), for one, is working against the S&P and Dow, while Apple’s good news is lifting the Nasdaq.

Economic Events

ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior Period	Expected	Actual
WEDNESDAY
PMI Manufacturing Index (Flash)	52.2	52.8	53.2
New Home Sales	459K (R)	481K	497K
Mortgage Activity	-2.6%	NA	-1.2%
EIA Petroleum Status – Crude Oil Inv.	-6.9 M	NA	-2.8 M

I think we can safely call the economic data of the day a mostly positive lot, with improvement seen in manufacturing and new home sales, each of which were better than economists expected. Mortgage activity slipped again this week on the relatively higher rates than we saw this past winter. However, the petroleum draw is good news, because it shows demand for oil and gasoline. But be careful, because there is another issue at play. Excessive heat, especially in the population dense Northeastern U.S. and the Southwest is also requiring utilities to work harder, and burn more fuel to produce electricity for air conditioners to keep Americans cool. This has natural gas prices on the rise as well; they were up sharply last week, when investors could not escape the heat.

Overseas Markets

EUROPE	CLOSE	ASIA/PACIFIC	CLOSE
EURO STOXX 50	+1.1%	NIKKEI 225	-0.3%
German DAX	+0.8%	Hang Seng	+0.2%
CAC 40	+1.0%	S&P/ASX 200	+0.4%
FTSE 100	+0.4%	Korean KOSPI	+0.4%
Athens ASE	-0.1%	BSE India SENSEX	-1.0%

International markets, especially in Europe, gained on news that the EU may be finally escaping recession. European manufacturing, as measured by the Markit Economics Eurozone Flash PMI Index, improved to an 18-month high in July. It was measured at 50.4 in July, up from June’s mark of 48.7.

Commodity Markets (12:41 PM ET)

WTI Crude	-1.9%
Brent Crude	-1.5%
NYMEX Natural Gas	+0.6%
RBOB Gasoline	-0.4%
Gold Spot	-1.3%
Silver Spot	-1.5%
COMEX Copper	-0.3%
CBOT Corn	-0.2%
CBOT Wheat	+0.5%
CBOT Soybeans	+0.2%
ICE Cocoa	+0.0%
ICE Sugar	-0.7%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	+2.6%
CME Live Cattle	+0.4%

Corporate Events

REPORTING EARNINGS
Company	Ticker
WEDNESDAY
WellPoint	NYSE: WLP
PepsiCo	NYSE: PEP
Ford Motor	NYSE: F
Boeing	NYSE: BA
Caterpillar	NYSE: CAT
Radian Group	NYSE: RDN
EMC	NYSE: EMC
Northrop Grumman	NYSE: NOC
Realogy	Nasdaq: RLGY
Facebook	NYSE: FB
Southwest Airlines	NYSE: LUV
NASDAQ OMX	Nasdaq: NDAQ
Praxair	NYSE: PX
Dr. Pepper Snapple	NYSE: DPS
US Airways	NYSE: LCC
T. Rowe Price	Nasdaq: TROW
Spirit Airlines	Nasdaq: SAVE
Thermo Fisher Scientific	NYSE: TMO
Lumber Liquidators	NYSE: LL
Reynolds American	NYSE: RAI
Lithia Motors	NYSE: LAD
AmerisourceBergen	NYSE: ABC
Wyndham Worldwide	NYSE: WYN
Delta Airlines	NYSE: DAL
Pacific Ethanol	Nasdaq: PEIX
TripAdvisor	Nasdaq: TRIP
Las Vegas Sands	NYSE: LVS
Tractor Supply	Nasdaq: TSCO
Oceaneering International	NYSE: OII
Capstead Mortgage	NYSE: CMO
Crocs	Nasdaq: CROX
Raymond James	NYSE: RJF

MOST ACTIVE STOCKS
BIGGEST GAINERS	% Gain
Agios Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AGIO)	+59%
Zhone Technologies (Nasdaq: ZHNE)	+29%
Maidenform Brands (NYSE: MFB)	+23%
Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO)	+20%
Clean Diesel Technologies (Nasdaq: CDTI)	+24%
TOP Ships (Nasdaq: TOPS)	+25%
Mastech (NYSE: MHH)	+16%
VMware (NYSE: VMW)	+16%
Rocky Brands (Nasdaq: RCKY)	+13%
USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU)	+14%
BIGGEST LOSERS	% Drop
Washington Federal (Nasdaq: WAFDW)	-29%
Neostem (NYSE: NBS)	-15%
Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM)	-15%
Vocus (Nasdaq: VOCS)	-15%
Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT)	-15%
CEVA (Nasdaq: CEVA)	-15%
Sarepta Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SRPT)	-15%
iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT)	-14%
Polycom (Nasdaq: PLCM)	-12%
Harvest Natural Resources (NYSE: HNR)	-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.