THURSDAY’S MARKET SUMMARY: Best of Both Worlds

It’s the best of both worlds today, with the American central bank holding soft policy in place while the day’s data shows decent economic activity. The Chicago PMI is just one of many data points, and it will likely be forgotten soon enough; amnesia may strike even as soon as a week from Friday when the jobs report is published for October.

Thursday’s Market Summary

Market ETF	October 31	Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)	+0.1%	+23.9%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)	+0.1%	+19.5%
PowerShares (Nasdaq: QQQ)	+0.0%	+27.4%

U.S. shares celebrated the strong Chicago PMI figure today, offering evidence of economic activity even through the government turmoil of October. Given that the U.S. Federal Reserve took a soft stance on Wednesday, it’s the best of both worlds for today’s traders.

Economic Events

ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior Period	Expected	Actual
THURSDAY
Chicago PMI	55.7	55.0	65.9
Bloomberg Consumer Comfort	-36.1		-37.6
Weekly Jobless Claims	350K	335K	340K
EIA Natural Gas Report	87 Bcf		38 Bcf
Farm Prices	-2.1%

  -R symbolizes “revised”

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index offered a different message this morning than the U.S. Federal Reserve did yesterday. The measure of manufacturing showed strong expansion in October. The consumer mood continued to soften though, as illustrated by the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort measure. It’s a weekly accounting, and so is likely the result of Obamacare adjustment and the poor jobs data recently reported, and also currently expected. Jobless claims did soften this past week as well, so nothing indicates otherwise.

Overseas Markets

EUROPE	CLOSE	ASIA/PACIFIC	CLOSE
EURO STOXX 50	+0.9%	NIKKEI 225	-1.2%
German DAX	+0.3%	Hang Seng	-0.4%
CAC 40	+0.6%	S&P/ASX 200	-0.1%
FTSE 100	-0.7%	Korean KOSPI	-1.4%
Bloomberg GCC 200 Mideast	+0.5%	BSE India SENSEX	+0.6%

Foreign markets are being swung by the U.S. Federal Reserve message. Asia would prefer to see U.S. economic activity improving, but the Fed said it would not begin tapering, sending a negative message about economics. Europe celebrated ongoing dovishness, since Europe is not pegged to dollar and appreciates U.S. economic supports almost as much as American traders. Today, Europe received two times the reason to raise the flag, with US manufacturing showing signs of strength even as the American Fed stays soft.

Commodity Markets (Afternoon)

WTI Crude	-0.1%
Brent Crude	-0.8%
NYMEX Natural Gas	-0.8%
RBOB Gasoline	+0.5%
Gold Spot	-1.6%
Silver Spot	-3.7%
COMEX Copper	-0.7%
CBOT Corn	-0.5%
CBOT Wheat	-0.6%
CBOT Soybeans	-0.5%
ICE Cocoa	+0.4%
ICE Sugar	+0.2%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	+2.7%
CME Lumber	+0.1%
CME Live Cattle	-0.3%

Thursday’s commodity price movement had more to do with the dollar than anything else. Whenever you see a majority of commodities moving in one direction, it usually signifies dollar driver. In this case, a strengthening dollar sent commodity prices lower. Precious metals and industrial metals alike all moved lower, and energy commodities mostly declined along with some of the agricultural sector.

Corporate Events

Facebook’s (NYSE: FB) earnings report from the night prior led the wire today. The company did well, but also reported less usage by younger Americans. The mixed message drove a bit of a roller coaster ride for the stock after hours last evening.

HIGHLIGHTED EPS REPORTS
Company	Ticker
THURSDAY
Facebook	NYSE: FB
CONSOL Energy	NYSE: CNX
Incyte	Nasdaq: INCY
Discovery Communications	Nasdaq: DISCA
ITT Corp.	NYSE: ITT
Perrigo	Nasdaq: PRGO
Harman International	NYSE: HAR
MasterCard	NYSE: MA
Diamond Resorts	Nasdaq: DRII
Boyd Gaming	NYSE: BYD
MGM Resorts	NYSE: MGM
Advance Auto Parts	NYSE: AAP
Hillshire Brands	NYSE: HSH
The Greenbrier Cos.	NYSE: GBX
Iridium Communications	Nasdaq: IRDM
Cigna	NYSE: CI
Felcor Lodging	NYSE: FCH
Reis	Nasdaq: REIS
New York Times	NYSE: NYT
Quanta Services	NYSE: PWR
Retail Opportunity Investments	Nasdaq: ROIC
Mylan	NYSE: MYL
Strayer Education	Nasdaq: STRA
World Wrestling Entertainment	NYSE: WWE
Alpha Natural Resources	NYSE: ANR
LoJack	Nasdaq: LOJN
PPL	NYSE: PPL
EPL Oil & Gas	NYSE: EPL
Cardinal Health	NYSE: CAH
ConocoPhillips	NYSE: COP
Investment Technology	NYSE: ITG
Acorda Therapeutics	Nasdaq: ACOR
KEMET	NYSE: KEM
Time Warner Cable	NYSE: TWC
CARBO Ceramics	NYSE: CRR
Marathon Petroleum	NYSE: MPC
Fortress Investment Group	NYSE: FIG
Magellan Midstream	NYSE: MMP
DSP Group	Nasdaq: DSPG
Harvard Biosciences	Nasdaq: HBIO
Exxon Mobil	NYSE: XOM
Iron Mountain	NYSE: IRM
Blue Nile	Nasdaq: NILE
AmerisourceBergen	NYSE: ABC
Clorox	NYSE: CLX
Lionbridge	Nasdaq: LIOX
Pilgrim’s Pride	NYSE: PPC
Einstein Noah Restaurant	Nasdaq: BAGL
MasTec	NYSE: MTZ
Green Dot	Nasdaq: GDOT
ON Semiconductor	Nasdaq: ONNN
Newmont Mining	NYSE: NEM
Public Storage	NYSE: PSA
Apartment Investment Mngmt.	NYSE: AIV
Amerisafe	Nasdaq: AMSF
CEC Entertainment	NYSE: CEC
Ellie Mae	NYSE: ELLI
Fluor	NYSE: FLR
Camden Property Trust	NYSE: CPT
Arabian American Development	NYSE: ARSD
Federated	Nasdaq: FNHC
The Chefs’ Warehouse	Nasdaq: CHEF
Kodiak Oil & Gas	NYSE: KOG
Electro Scientific	Nasdaq: ESIO
First Solar	Nasdaq: FSLR
Mohawk	NYSE: MHK

MOST ACTIVE STOCKS
BIGGEST GAINERS	% Gain
58.com (Nasdaq: WUBA)	+54%
ZELTIQ Aesthetics (Nasdaq: ZLTQ)	+38%
ShoreTel (Nasdaq: SHOR)	+32%
Carbo Ceramics (NYSE: CRR)	+33%
Intelliquent (Nasdaq: IQNT)	+30%
Fluidigm (Nasdaq: FLDM)	+25%
Essent Group (Nasdaq: ESNT)	+25%
GrafTech International (NYSE: GTI)	+20%
Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE)	+19%
Silver Spring Networks (Nasdaq: SSNI)	+19%
BIGGEST LOSERS	% Drop
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARIA)	-44%
Neogen (Nasdaq: NEOG)	-34%
NII Holdings (Nasdaq: NIHD)	-26%
Odyssey Marine Exploration (Nasdaq: OMEX)	-26%
Avon Products (NYSE: AVP)	-24%
Rocky Brands (Nasdaq: RCKY)	-24%
Sequenom (Nasdaq: SQNM)	-22%
Atlas Air Worldwide (Nasdaq: AAWW)	-21%
ALCO Stores (Nasdaq: ALCS)	-21%
Support.com (Nasdaq: SPRT)	-21%

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.