Friday, May 2, 2008

Stocks up a little

Stocks rose on a favorable gov report & the FED's rate cut. Dow was up 38 (but down from a 100+ gain at the start of trading), advancers ahead of decliners 2-1 but NAZ was down 7 points, negatively affected by Sun's (JAVA) loss reported yesterday. The Labor Dept reported employers cut fewer than expected jobs, 20K, in Apr which kept the unemployment rate at 5.0%, a favorable sign for the markets. Expectations were for the number to be 75K. Gas prices pulled back yesterday, but only .1¢ to 3.622 as reported by AAA. The revised hope is that gas will top out at only 3.70 rather than 4.00.

Sun's loss is hurting tech stocks. Sun is down 3.41 & leading the tech sector down. They are also guiding for a flat Q4 (this one) & will have to lay off up to 2½K staff. The message is similar to a stream of macro gov reports which have become common.

Last month was a very good month for the markets. Dow gained more than 500. MLPs were up more than 10% to 293 from their lows of 262 in late Mar. But they've been stuck in the 292 area for a couple of weeks. REITs rebounded a little from their lows, buyers attracted by high yields. Lower Treasury yields have prompted brave investors to go after junk bond funds, up 10% last month. Buyers were attracted to yields near 11%.

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