WEDNESDAY’S MARKET: A Sad Day for America

September 11th is always a sad day for me, an eyewitness of the horrible events of that day in downtown Manhattan. It seems I cannot escape the tearful memory, but today as I prayed for the souls of those departed, I included all those departed, even the murderers. Only when we can forgive our enemies can we be free. There’s another reason why this day was a sad one though. President Obama officially backed off his tough talk about Syria last night, and tailored a logical argument for trusting the Russians and their plan to take away Syrian weaponry: At least then we can be sure that al Qaeda will not get a hold of the tyrant’s chemical weaponry. It’s just that I do not trust the Russians at all, nor the Syrian government to give away all of its nasty weapons. Assad will keep most of it, while at the same time receiving a new load of anti-ship missiles from the Russians to fend us off when we get wise. This is a very sad day for America, because today its leaders proved naïve, weak and dangerous in their foreign policy decision making.

A Sad Day for America

Market ETF	September 11	Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)	+0.2%	+18.8%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)	+0.7%	+17.0%
PowerShares (Nasdaq: QQQ)	-0.2%	+19.8%

Stocks rose modestly into the close Wednesday on the momentum gained yesterday from the President’s plea. Even so, the Nasdaq was weighed down by Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) decline on analyst downgrades and investor disappointment with the company’s product announcements of yesterday.

Economic Events

ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior Period	Expected	Actual
WEDNESDAY
Wholesale Trade (Inventory)	-0.2%	+0.3%	+0.1%
-Sales	+0.4%		+0.1%
Mortgage Activity	+1.3%		-13.5%
EIA Petroleum Status
-Crude Oil Inventory	-1.8 M		-0.2 M
-Gasoline Inventory	-1.8 M		+1.7 M

The economic data was light Wednesday, but sassy nonetheless. Mortgage activity data showed the Mortgage Bankers’ Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index dropped 13.5%. Mortgage application activity declined for both refinancing and home purchases on a combination of factors. First of all, mortgage rates moved higher through the period. Secondly, you cannot expect much business around and after Labor Day weekend, as families are all moved in and ready for the start of the school year by now. While the MBA makes an adjustment for the holiday, it is not adequate; read my follow up article to find out why and how they fail to fully compensate for the holiday.

Otherwise on the day we got the Wholesale Trade data, which showed just a moderate increase in both sales and inventories at the wholesale level. That’s about as dynamic a catalyst for stocks as a rain drop quenches thirst.

Crude oil inventory declined, but that has nothing to do with any filling of the strategic petroleum reserve, as the reporters of this data leave that information out. Gasoline inventory increased substantially as the summer driving season has officially closed now.

Overseas Markets

EUROPE	11:20 AM	ASIA/PACIFIC	CLOSE
EURO STOXX 50	+0.2%	NIKKEI 225	+0.0%
German DAX	+0.4%	Hang Seng	-0.2%
CAC 40	-0.2%	S&P/ASX 200	+0.6%
FTSE 100	-0.2%	Korean KOSPI	+0.5%
Bloomberg GCC 200 Mideast	+0.0%	BSE India SENSEX	+0.0%

International markets continue to celebrate the American reconsideration regarding Syria. While Asia continued to reflect the move due to the time difference in markets, Europe was left drifting.

Commodity Markets (11:05 AM)

WTI Crude	+0.1%
Brent Crude	+0.2%
NYMEX Natural Gas	-1.3%
RBOB Gasoline	-0.5%
Gold Spot	-0.1%
Silver Spot	+0.7%
COMEX Copper	+0.4%
CBOT Corn	+0.0%
CBOT Wheat	-0.3%
CBOT Soybeans	-0.1%
ICE Cocoa	-0.8%
ICE Sugar	+0.5%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	-2.0%
CME Lumber	-0.3%
CME Live Cattle	+0.3%

The day after President Obama weakly pulls away from making Syria’s diabolical chief pay dearly for his poisoning of woman and children, oil prices are drifting. The rally in gold and silver continues, curiously. Orange juice futures dropped as three tropical depressions threaten the Americas.

Corporate Events

Earnings season has officially fizzled out here at the close of summer and start of September, as evidenced by the light list of reporters this day.

REPORTING EARNINGS
Company	Ticker
WEDNESDAY
Men’s Wearhouse	NYSE: MW
Evolution Petroleum	NYSE: EPM
Vera Bradley	Nasdaq: VRA
Billing Services Group	London: B4S.L

MOST ACTIVE STOCKS
BIGGEST GAINERS	% Gain
Ventrus Biosciences (Nasdaq: VTUS)	+35%
Galectin Therapeutics (Nasdaq: GALTW)	+27%
Harvest Natural Resources (NYSE: HNR)	+24%
Galectin Therapeutics (Nasdaq: GALTU)	+30%
Synnex Corporation (NYSE: SNX)	+22%
Galectin Therapeutics (Nasdaq: GALT)	+19%
GTx (Nasdaq: GTXI)	+18%
SigmaTron International (Nasdaq: SGMA)	+14%
First Financial Bancorp (Nasdaq: FFBCW)	+13%
Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS)	+10%
BIGGEST LOSERS	% Drop
OvaScience (Nasdaq: OVAS	-27%
Coldwater Creek (Nasdaq: CWTR)	-22%
NanoString (Nasdaq: NSTG)	-20%
Renesola (NYSE: SOL)	-19%
Prospect Global Resources (Nasdaq: PGRX)	-10%
L&L Energy (Nasdaq: LLEN)	-12%
Washington Federal (Nasdaq: WAFDW)	-13%
JP Morgan Double Short US 10 Yr. (Nasdaq: DSXJ)	-12%
Glowpoint (Nasdaq: GLOW)	-10%
Atlantic Coast Federal (Nasdaq: ACFC)	-10%

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