Economic Journal - Thursday, 4/5/2012

Stocks open lower for a third straight session as the markets continue to slide from yesterday’s lows.   Yesterday stocks tallied one of the worst sessions of the year thus far with the Dow off by 0.9%, the Nasdaq down 1.5% and the S&P500 shedding 1.02%.  Today, several large US retailers, including Target, Gap Inc. and Macy’s reported better-than-expected sales for March.  Analysts are citing an earlier Easter holiday and warmer weather to go along with better underlying trends in consumer spending.  The Labor dept. reported US jobless claims fell to 357,000 last week, down from an upwardly revised 363,000 in the week before.  The 4 week rolling average dropped by 4,250 to 361,750 -  the lowest monthly total since April 2008.  The monthly average of claims gives a better reading of labor market trends because it smooths out seasonal quirks.  US employers announced fewer job cuts in March than a year earlier.  Planned firings fell by 8.8% from a year ago to a 10-month low of 37,880 according to Challenger, Gray and Christmas, a job placement firm based out of Chicago.  Canada also saw jobs rise at the highest rate since 2008 while the jobless rate fell to 7.2% from 7.4%.  The market continues to focus on Europe today.  Worries over yesterday’s disappointing Spanish bond auction and rising bond yields in several European countries are causing investors to fear Europe’s dealings with its debt situation.  European stocks were lower and Asian stocks continued to retreat.  Oil bounced back 0.58% to 102.06 and gold rallied 1.07% to 1631.30. The US dollar was mixed while the 10 yr. treasury yield fell slightly to 2.19%.  30 yr. mortgage rates drifted up to 4.04%.  The CBOE volatility index was up 1.28% to 16.65.  All figures quoted were as of 7:30 am pacific time.