Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Dow on a 2 day winning streak

Dow is on a 2 day winning streak, up 38 today! But advancers are barely ahead of decliners & NAZ is even. S&P 500 at 1290, held above the important 1270 level so far. Not much happening on this holiday kind of shortened week. A private report shows the number of private sector jobs fell 79K in June, mostly from manufacturing. This sends a signal that the next unemployment report from the Dept of Labor will not be pretty. The Commerce Dept reported that factory orders rose 0.6% in May following a 1.3% rise in the prior month. The macro story remains the same, domestic business is weak while exports are strong. Oil is even (believe it or not!) ahead of the weekly inventory report due in a few hours.

Blockbuster (BBI) pulled its offer to buy Circuit City (CC). Both are $2 stocks, CC pulled back to 2 while BBI rose 32¢. For some a big story, Starbucks (SBUX), up 14¢, is closing 600 US outlets (19% of US company stores). Either they're now a mature business or times are really tough! There should not be much news today leading to volatility, so here's some thoughts about bear markets.

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