WEDNESDAY’S MARKET: Lost at Sea

The market seems lost at sea, like those poor souls on the Malaysian Air flight. It’s hard to find direction these days, with economic data floundering and geopolitical issues lingering. Without a clear catalyst or even a breeze of driving air, this market is lost at sea for now without direction. I’ve authored several new articles at Seeking Alpha which I’ve linked to below; they are worth your perusal and cover gold, BAC, NLY and GE.

U.S. Markets

Market ETF	03/26	YTD	TTM
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)	+0.3%	+1.1%	+19.6%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)	+0.2%	-1.1%	+12.6%
PowerShares (Nasdaq: QQQ)	+0.2%	+0.8%	+29.0%
SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD)	-0.5%	+8.1%	-18.9%
iShares US Real Estate (NYSE: IYR)	-0.4%	+6.1%	-3.1%
United States Oil (NYSE: USO)	+0.4%	+1.7%	+4.2%
PowerShares DB US$  Bullish (NYSE: UUP)	+0.2%	-0.3%	-5.0%
PIMCO Total Return ETF (NYSE: BOND)	+0.1%	+1.8%	-2.9%

Stocks are higher today, but only cautiously so, as an antsy investment community weighs where we stand economically speaking on a global plane. The latest data has not been exciting enough to spur stocks higher, so the wall of worry is looking taller this week.

International Markets

EUROPE	%	ASIA/PACIFIC	%
Vanguard FTSE Europe (NYSE: VGK)	+0.5%	Precidian MAXIS Nikkei (NYSE: NKY)	+0.7%
iShares MSCI UK (NYSE: EWU)	+0.4%	SPDR S&P China (NYSE: GXC)	+0.7%
iShares MSCI France (NYSE: EWQ)	+0.4%	iShares Asia 50 (NYSE: AIA)	+1.2%
iShares MSCI Germany (NYSE: EWG)	+0.7%	iShares MSCI S. Korea (NYSE: EWY)	+1.6%
Global X FTSE Greece (NYSE: GREK)	-1.1%	iPath MSCI India (NYSE: INP)	+0.2%

International markets are mostly higher, some speculate on hopes of further ECB action to spur the European economy. Surely some of the latest gains globally have come on the lack of further aggression by Russia in the Ukraine or elsewhere to date. I would not bet on that for very long.

Economic Data

TODAY’S ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior	Expected	Actual
WEDNESDAY
Durable Goods Orders (Feb)	-1.3%	+1.0%	+2.2%
-Ex-transportation	+0.9%	+0.3%	+0.2%
PMI Services Flash	52.7		55.5
Mortgage Activity	-1.2%		-3.5%
EIA Petroleum Status
-Crude Inventory	+5.9 MB		+6.6 MB
-Gasoline	-1.5 MB		-5.1 MB
St. Louis Fed Bullard Speaks

Economic data was mixed Wednesday morning, but weak new durable goods orders net of transportation should have hurt stocks early and did not. New orders increased by 0.2% ex-transportation, which compared with January’s increase of 0.9%. Economists expected a slower pace of order growth this month, but the result was even less than their expectations. Year-over-year orders were up 1.5%, so the situation is improved from last year.

The Markit Economics PMI Services Flash Index improved in its latest read to a mark of 55.5, up from 52.7. The American economy is primarily a service oriented one, and so this is important news. Yesterday, Consumer Confidence gained to 82.3 from 78.3. The market is focused on the positive, and I believe it’s probably right to do so at this point given my expectations for a spring burst in economic activity. It’s just that it is also vulnerable to shock at this point, and vibrations abound.

Housing data continued to stall, with this week’s mortgage activity report showing another decline of 3.5% in mortgage applications. Last week’s data showed a 1.2% decrease, and yesterday’s New Home Sales result showed a depressing pace of 4.4 million annually, down from 4.55 million last month.

Commodity Markets

United States Oil (NYSE: USO)	+0.6%
iPath SP Crude Oil (NYSE: OIL)	+0.7%
U.S. Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG)	-0.8%
U.S. Gasoline (NYSE: UGA)	+0.4%
SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD)	-0.8%
Market Vectors Gold Miners (NYSE: GDX)	-2.2%
iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV)	-1.0%
iPath DJ UBS Industrial Metals (NYSE: JJM)	-0.8%
Teucrium Corn ETF (NYSE: CORN)	+0.1%
Teucrium Wheat Fund (NYSE: WEAT)	-0.8%
Teucrium Soybean Fund (NYSE: SOYB)	-0.6%
iPath DJ-UBS Cocoa (NYSE: NIB)	+0.1%
iPath DJ-UBS Sugar (NYSE: SGG)	+3.0%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	+0.7%
CME Lumber	-1.7%
CME Live Cattle	+0.6%

Oil is gaining as Russian resources are being isolated by Western interests. If Russia is placed into a corner, the resource market gets smaller and prices must rise relative to energy commodities. LNG is not ready to ship yet, so oil moves while efforts continue in the alternative energy space.

Gold continues to slide. The move in gold lower is asinine and being driven by institutional guidance to investors to move capital from gold into stocks. That will work until it does not work, and painfully so.

Stock Activity

The daily losers list is highlighting the fuel cell energy names after Jim Cramer dissed Plug Power this morning on CNBC. I once followed PLUG, BLDP and FCEL as a stock analyst and will have something to say about them shortly.

EPS REPORTS
Company	Ticker
WEDNESDAY
China XD Plastics	Nasdaq: CXDC
Dolan	Nasdaq: DOLN
Francesca’s Holdings	Nasdaq: FRAN
H.B. Fuller	NYSE: FUL
Lindsay	NYSE: LNN
Movado	NYSE: MOV
Natuzzi	NYSE: NTZ
Optibase	Nasdaq: OBAS
Paychex	Nasdaq: PAYX
REX American Resources	NYSE: REX
Sprague Resources	Nasdaq: SRLP
Tat Technologies	Nasdaq: TATT
Verint Systems	Nasdaq: VRNT

TODAY’S MOST ACTIVE STOCKS
BIGGEST GAINERS	% Gain
Fuwei Films (Nasdaq: FFHL)	+33%
IsoRay (NYSE: ISR)	+24%
22nd Century Group (Nasdaq: XXII)	+19%
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: KERX)	+15%
eMagin (Nasdaq: EMAN)	+15%
CombiMatrix (Nasdaq: CBMXW)	+14%
Five Below (Nasdaq: FIVE)	+14%
THT Heat Transfer (Nasdaq: THTI)	+11%
Nord Anglia Education (NYSE: NORD)	+13%
Yongye Int’l (Nasdaq: YONG)	+13%
BIGGEST LOSERS	% Drop
PMC Commercial Trust (Nasdaq: PMCT)	-53%
Exelixis (Nasdaq: EXEL)	-36%
Body Central (Nasdaq: BODY)	-28%
REEDS (Nasdaq: REED)	-24%
Plug Power (Nasdaq: PLUG)	-20%
Ballard Power (Nasdaq: BLDP)	-17%
FuelCell Energy (Nasdaq: FCEL)	-14%
Real Goods Solar (Nasdaq: RGSE)	-14%
Global Cash Access (NYSE: GCA)	-14%
Relypsa (Nasdaq: RLYP)	-12%

Other Reports of Interest:

Annaly (NYSE: NLY) Rose 2.8% on the Steadied Dividend, So What’s Next?
This Week in Real Estate
How the GE TV Commercial Supports its Stock Price (NYSE: GE)
Dick Bove Pounds the Table for Bank of America (NYSE: BAC)

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.