(As of 7:15 am PST)
Markets are cautiously higher early as investors waded
through a soft retail sales report.
Sales at US retailers rose only 0.1% in April, below the consensus
estimate and well off the previous month’s pace. On a brighter note, sales for March were
revised upward to 1.5%, the largest monthly gain in 4 years. Economists
attribute the surge in March and a drop off in April to this year’s late
Easter holiday. In other economic news, prices
for imported goods dropped 0.4% in April, led mostly by lower fuel costs which
fell 1.7%. After a strong day on the
market yesterday, which had investors jumping back in to technology stocks,
things seem to be cooling down today.
International markets are mixed, with Asian markets finishing mostly in
the green despite disappointing retail sales and industrial production data in
China. Europe is trading with modest
gains heading into the final hour of the session. Gold is flat and oil up
slightly while interest rates are down.
It was a record day for the S&P500 and Dow Jones yesterday as both
indexes closed at record levels. We’ll
see if large caps can continue to carry markets higher today.
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