Stocks slipped on Thursday as soft retail sales and a sharp rise in the dollar left investors edgy a day before December's U.S. employment report.
Given a rise of about 8 percent in the S&P 500 since the start of December, investors could be looking for an excuse to sell stocks if the jobs report falls short of forecasts that were raised after Wednesday's strong private-sector payroll report.
"If tomorrow's payroll numbers don't live up to expectations, that could create the correction that some have been predicting," said Paul Radeke, vice president at Minneapolis-based KDV Wealth Management.
Investors expect a gain of 175,000 in overall non-farm payrolls in December and a decline in the unemployment rate to 9.7 percent from 9.8 percent.
The weakness "was both surprising and disturbing," said Walter Todd, chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital Associates in Greenwood, South Carolina. "It makes me think it had more to do with weather than fundamentals."
"Demand for commodities should continue to improve, but in the short term there's a negative correlation between the dollar and commodities," Todd said. "That's hard to escape on a day-to-day basis."
About three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange while on the Nasdaq about five stocks fell for every four that rose.
About 8.39 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below last year's daily average of 8.47 billion.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(DJI: ^DJI )| Index Value: | 11,697.31 |
|---|---|
| Trade Time: | 4:03PM EST |
| Change: |  25.58 (0.22%) |
| Prev Close: | 11,722.89 |
|---|---|
| Open: | 11,716.93 |
| Day's Range: | 11,667.46 -11,736.74 |
| 52wk Range: | 9,596.04 -11,795.80 |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please remember...your comment should not contain nudity or vulger language in addition to advertisement of your blog/site or any product ...and should not hurt the readers emotions...if that will be case it will be removed on first review of admin staff... Regards