(As of 7:04 am pacific)
Investors are jittery this
morning over earning season, which kicks off today when Alcoa announces after
market close. European news trickling in
also has investors on edge although little of substance is transpiring. China introduced a new stimulus package which
boosted its markets by 2% last night, but other Asian markets lagged,
especially Japan. The dollar index is up
while gold is down, oil is higher and other commodities are slightly positive. Interest rates are stable, although there was
a minute rise in mortgage interest rates, the first in several weeks. Markets started the day down slightly, but
very quiet. I expect improvement as the
day wears on and investors become less pessimistic about reduced quarterly
earnings. Expect the next few weeks to
be very much driven by corporate earnings and expect earnings to be better than
current pessimistic projections.
Markets, on the other hand, will likely react more to 4th
quarter projections than the announced third quarter earnings.
