Thursday, November 5, 2015

Economic Journal - Thursday, 11/5/2015

(As of 7:15 am PST)

After closing out its first down day in over a week yesterday, the markets have opened today with modest gains as investors respond to mixed earnings reports and data on weekly jobless claims and productivity. Facebook leads the way on the earnings front with a strong report that caused its shares to move upward while Whole Foods and Qualcomm declined on less than stellar reports. The markets are still digesting Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s speech yesterday where she strongly hinted of a possible rate hike in December. In global news, most European indexes are higher despite disappointing factory data out of Germany. This updraft is likely due to a conditioned response lately of bad news leading to the European Central Bank bolstering stimulus measures before year end. Asian markets finished the day on a mixed note. The expectation of a rate hike here at home has affected the Treasury yield curve, where the 2-year note yield jumped to its highest level since 2011. The big news due out at the end of the week is the non-farm payrolls report due out tomorrow which could likely have an impact on markets as the week closes out. Both gold and oil are lower in early trading.

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