Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Economic Journal - Wednesday, 6/1/2016

(As of 7:25am, PST)

The markets have welcomed June in with a thud. In the early going the Dow is down 75 points and the S&P500 if off nearly a half a percent. On Tuesday, the S&P500 fell 7 points with eight of the ten sectors trading lower. This is a big week of economic data reporting and investors are taking a cautious approach as the news rolls out. Most of the data here in the U.S. has been positive and has pointed to a stronger economy in the second quarter. The downside to positive news is that it points toward potential rate hikes later this year by the Federal Reserve and investors are trying to decide if that is a good thing. Fresh economic news out this morning is the ISM manufacturing index which reported an increase in May.  The ISM index is formulated from a survey of purchasing managers and is helpful in giving insight on the health of the nation’s manufacturing activity. Auto and Truck sales for the month of May will be reported later in the day. The big news this week will be on Friday when the U.S. jobs report rolls out. Oil is trading lower today ahead of an OPEC meeting on Thursday. The news wasn’t much better overseas with most indices in Europe and Asian trading in the red.


No comments: