(As of 7:09 am PST)
After an early surge out of
the gate this morning, stocks are giving back gains quickly. It is a mild day for economic news and profit
reports are none too exciting. The
payroll tax increase seems to be taking a big bite out of consumer spending
this year as retailers are noting flat sales.
Gold is slightly lower and oil slightly higher. Interest rates are stable. Lacking any strong reason to buy, investors
are sitting on the sidelines. The
automatic government budget cuts (the sequester), coming on March 1st,
are looming larger. Political
negotiations to modify the spending cuts are going nowhere. Uncertainty is a bad thing for markets and
could weigh on market performance for the coming week. International reports are slightly positive.
No comments:
Post a Comment