Thursday, August 7, 2014

Economic Journal - Thursday, 8/7/2014



(As of 7:10 am PST)

Equities are higher in the early going fueled by an optimistic jobs report.  Jobless claims fell faster than expected last week as claims fell from 303,000 to 289,000. It was the second time in three weeks that claims have fallen below 300,000 indicating improvement in labor market conditions.  Earnings continue to trickle in with today’s reports mostly upbeat.  Investors have also been paying close attention to Europe Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s press conference this morning.  The ECB left key interest rates unchanged as most analysts expected, but indicated a lingering concern over the pace of growth throughout the Euro-zone. European markets enter their final hour of trading slightly lower.  Asian markets finished down for the day.  Gold is lower after a sharp run up earlier in the week, while oil prices are inching higher. As we’ve seen in the past few days, expect these early session gains to deteriorate as the day wears on.

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