STOCKS GO NOWHERE AGAIN: Here’s What You Need To Know

By admin on August 9, 2012

Sleep

And we thought yesterday was quiet.

First the scoreboard:

Dow: 13,164, -11.3, -0.0%
S&P 500: 1,402, +0.5, +0.0%
NASDAQ: 3,018, +7.3, +0.2%

And now the top stories:

Overnight, China released a ton of economic data. In a nutshell, most measures reflected a slowing economy. However, inflation continues to cool off, which opens the door for more easing by China’s monetary authorities. Here’s An 80-Second Guide To Why The Job Of China’s Central Bank Just Got More Complicated >
Greece reported that its unemployment rate climbed to 23.1 percent in May from 22.6 in April. The youth unemployment rate is at a horrifying 54.9 percent. But no one is surprised by bad news out of Greece these days.
What was surprising was Greek industrial production, which unexpectedly climbed by 0.3 percent. The Twitter vigilantes were all a twitter. But the conclusion seems to be that this is just a blip in data that’ll continue to deteriorate.
In the U.S., weekly initial jobless claims fell to 361k from 367k a week ago. This was well below the 370k that economists were expecting.
One thing that probably should’ve gotten more attention was corn prices, which surged to an all-time high of $ 8.22 per bushel. According to a new report from the UN, food prices around the world are up 6 percent. Meanwhile, food reserves are at a 4-year low.
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