Thursday’s Financial Markets Summary

Good news is bad news, as the latest slew of economic reports offered a bit too much of a positive statement about the economy. That in turn got investors even more worried about the possibility of a near-term action by the Federal Reserve. This is the way it is going to be until the Fed finally does act, and then good economic news will be good news for stocks as well, at least for as long as inflation does not stir up. Visit the blog for your daily summary and other content.

Financial Markets Summary

Market ETF	December 5	Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)	-0.4%	+25.7%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)	-0.4%	+21.1%
PowerShares (Nasdaq: QQQ)	-0.1%	+31.1%

Stocks got spooked again by good economic data. Really, it’s about time we just get the Fed action and learn to deal with it.

Economic Events

ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior	Expected	Actual
THURSDAY
ECB Monetary Policy	Held rates steady
BOE Monetary Policy	Held rates steady
GDP	+2.8%	+3.1%	+3.6%
Factory Orders	+1.8% R	-1.2%	-0.9%
Weekly Jobless Claims	321K	322K	298K
Bloomberg Consumer Comfort	-33.7		-31.3
EIA Natural Gas Report	-13 bcf		-162 bcf
Challenger Job-Cut Report	45.7K		45.3K
Chain Store Sales
Gallup US Payroll to Population	43.8%		43.7%
Fisher Speaks
Lockhart Speaks
SEC Roundtable: Proxy Advisory

 -R symbolizes “revised”

The economic data was not the problem Thursday, at least not as far as the economy is concerned. Q3 GDP growth was revised higher to a level well above expectations, and at 3.6%, it was high enough to spur concern in the investment community about the Fed’s future policy. Add to that the fact that jobless claims slowed, consumer confidence improved and factory orders were relatively better than previously thought as far as the prior month revision indicated, and we got a rosy economic picture. However, the investment community would like it to be a little less rosy to keep the Fed’s hands off its perfect environment.

Overseas Markets

EUROPE	CLOSE	ASIA/PACIFIC	CLOSE
EURO STOXX 50	-1.3%	NIKKEI 225	+0.2%
German DAX	-0.6%	Hang Seng	-0.2%
CAC 40	-1.2%	S&P/ASX 200	-0.2%
FTSE 100	-0.2%	Korean KOSPI	-0.0%
Bloomberg GCC 200 Mideast	+0.2%	BSE India SENSEX	+0.1%

European investors were not pleased with the inaction of the ECB when its monetary policy was announced Thursday.

Commodity Markets (CLOSE)

WTI Crude	+0.1%
Brent Crude	+0.2%
NYMEX Natural Gas	+0.0%
RBOB Gasoline	+0.2%
Gold Spot	+0.1%
Silver Spot	-0.2%
COMEX Copper	-0.9%
CBOT Corn	-0.3%
CBOT Wheat	0.0%
CBOT Soybeans	-0.8%
ICE Cocoa	-0.5%
ICE Sugar	+0.1%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	+1.9%
CME Lumber	-0.1%
CME Live Cattle	+0.0%

The approaching arctic cold front was very likely responsible for the sharp rise in orange juice concentrate prices. Natural gas might have shot higher as well if not for all the new supply, because the latest large weekly draw from inventory was kind of an abrupt shift from recent reports.

Corporate Events

The earnings report schedule remains soft spoken.

HIGHLIGHTED REPORTS
Company	Ticker
THURSDAY
Francesca’s Holdings - EPS	Nasdaq: FRAN
Casella Waste Systems - EPS	Nasdaq: CWST
Zumiez – EPS	Nasdaq: ZUMZ
Principal Financial – Div	NYSE: PFG
WellPoint - Div	NYSE: WLP

MOST ACTIVE STOCKS
BIGGEST GAINERS	% Gain
Puma Biotechnology (Nasdaq: PBYI)	+68%
China Auto Logistics (Nasdaq: CALI)	+46%
Methode Electronics (NYSE: MEI)	+43%
Plug Power (Nasdaq: PLUG)	+43%
Receptos (Nasdaq: RCPT)	+22%
Guanwei Recycling (Nasdaq: GPRC)	+22%
Conn’s (Nasdaq: CONN)	+19%
Authentidate (Nasdaq: ADAT)	+19%
Optibase (Nasdaq: OBAS)	+19%
CombiMatrix (Nasdaq: CBMX)	+18%
BIGGEST LOSERS	% Drop
Renesola (NYSE: SOL)	-21%
Natural Alternatives (Nasdaq: NAII)	-15%
New York & Co. (NYSE: NWY)	-14%
The Wet Seal (Nasdaq: WTSL)	-14%
Crestwood Equity Partners (Nasdaq: CEQP)	-12%
BioTelemetry (Nasdaq: BEAT)	-12%
Oculus Innovative Sciences (Nasdaq: OCLS)	-12%
CAS Medical Systems (Nasdaq: CASM)	-12%
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: KERX)	-12%
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: LXRX)	-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.