Daily Market Commentary for March 4, 2010

Pending Home Sales

Stocks were inching higher in morning trading, despite reports that pending home sales fell in January. (Read more at Millennium-Traders.Com)

Economic data released today:

Initial Jobless Claims:
U.S. Continuing Claims Fall to Lowest Level since January 2009; U.S. Jobless Claims for Week of February 20 Revised to 498K from 496K; U.S. Continuing Claims for Week of February 20 fell 134K to 4,500,000; U.S. Jobless Claims fell 29K to 469K in Week of February 27; Compared to Survey of a decrease by 23K.

Nonfarm Productivity (QoQ):
U.S. 3Q Non-Farm Productivity Revised to rise 7.8%; U.S. 4Q Non-Farm Productivity Consensus rose 6.5%; U.S. 4Q Non-Farm Productivity Revised to rise 6.9%, Preliminary rose 6.25:

Unit Labor Costs (QoQ);
U.S. 3Q Unit Labor Costs Revised to fall 7.6%; U.S. 4Q Unit Labor Costs Consensus fell 4.9%; U.S. 4Q Unit Labor Costs Revised to fall 5.9%, Preliminary fell 4.4%.

Pending Home Sales from NAR [National Association of Realtors] (MoM):
U.S. January Pending Home Sales rose 12.3% from January 2009; U.S. Pending Home Sales Index fell 7.6% to 90.4 in January.

Factory Orders (MoM):
December Factory Orders Revised to rise 1.5% from an increase by 1.0%; January Unfilled Orders Unchanged After 15 Straight Declines; January Non-Defense Capital Goods Orders Ex-Aircraft fell 4.1%; January Durable Goods Revised to rise 2.6% from an increase by 3.0%; January Factory Orders, Excluding Defense, rose 1.0%; January Factory Orders, Excluding Transportation, rose 0.1%; January Factory Orders Lifted by Commercial Airplane Demand; U.S. Factory Orders rose 1.7% in January; Compared to Consensus of an increase by 2.0%.

At the NYSE closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, here is how the major world indices and major U.S. stock indices ended the trading session on the world markets as well as the emerging markets including the stock market closing bell price:
DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) gain 48.52 points, EOD 10,445.28
NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) gain 8.41, EOD 7,173.07
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) gain 10.71 points, EOD 2,291.39
S&P 500 (SPX) gain 4.19 points, EOD 1,122.98
BEL 20 (BEL20) shed 9.6 points, EOD 2,582.96
CAC 40 (CAC40) gain 14.11 points, EOD 3,828.41
FTSE100 (UKX100) shed 6.05, EOD 5,527.16
NIKKEI 225 (NIK/O) shed 108.92 points, EOD 10,145.72

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 1,786 declined stock prices 1,308 unchanged stock prices 111, stock prices hitting new highs 227 and stock prices hitting new lows 5. NYSE quotes for volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the New York Stock Exchange stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: CF gain 1.45, HOD 108.41, LOD 106.51, EOD 108.23; CME gain 1.66, HOD 309.21, LOD 302.19, EOD 307.52; POT shed 0.33, HOD 116.17, LOD 113.90, EOD 114.92; ANF gain 5.28, HOD 41.68, LOD 39.13, EOD 41.52; AIG gain 1.83, HOD 27.29, LOD 24.99, EOD 26.71.

National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 1,570, declined stock prices 1,113, unchanged stock prices 135, stock prices hitting new highs 133 and stock prices hitting new lows 9. NASDAQ quotes, volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the NASDAQ stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: PCLN shed 2.70, HOD 237.83, LOD 229.51, EOD 233.12; BIDU gain 6.76, HOD 525.00, LOD 514.88, EOD 523.78; GOOG gain 9.27, HOD 556.13, LOD 546.20, EOD 554.59; DNDN gain 1.23, HOD 35.45, LOD 34.50, EOD 34.84; ZUMZ gain 1.61, HOD 20.61, LOD 17.59, EOD 17.62; PETM gain 2.22, HOD 30.25, LOD 29.27, EOD 29.93; SINA gain 1.91, HOD 39.90, LOD 36.60, EOD 39.40; TIVO gain 6.32, HOD 16.65, LOD 10.18, EOD 16.53.

Market trends on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) and stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 240, declined stock prices 236, unchanged stock prices 48, stock prices hitting new highs 21 and stock prices hitting new lows 5.

Chicago Board of Trade Futures Market for the day, at time of this posting:
E-mini S&P 500 (ES) Mar 10: EOD 1122.00; Change 3.50
E-mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) Mar 10: EOD 1,859.00; Change 7.00
E-mini DOW $5 (YM) Mar 10: EOD 10,435; Change 48
E-mini S&P MidCap 400 (MF) Mar 10: EOD 758.70; Change -0.50
Nikkei 225 (Yen) Mar 10: EOD 10,225; Change -15

World Currencies for the Forex Market, for Forex Trading by active Forex Traders, at time of this posting:
Euro 0.7360 U.S. Dollars 1.3587
Japanese Yen 89.1000 to U.S. Dollars 0.0112
British Pound 0.6651 to U.S. Dollars 1.5036
Canadian Dollar 1.0305 to U.S. Dollars 0.9704
Swiss Franc 1.0762 to U.S. Dollars 0.9292

COMMODITY MARKETS:
Energy Sector - Nymex:
Light Crude (April 10) shed $0.33, EOD $80.54 per barrel ($US per barrel)
Heating Oil (April 10) shed $0.03, EOD $2.07 a gallon ($US per gallon)
Natural Gas (April 10) shed $0.18, EOD $4.58 per million BTU ($US per mmbtu.)
Unleaded Gas (April 10) shed $0.01, EOD $2.23 gallon ($US per gallon)

Metals Markets - Comex:
Gold (April 10) shed $9.60, EOD $1,133.70 ($US per Troy ounce)
Silver (May 10) shed $0.10, EOD $17.23 ($US per Troy ounce)
Platinum (April 10) shed $1.30, EOD $1,582.20 ($US per Troy ounce)
Copper (May 10) shed $0.06, EOD $3.38 ($US per pound)

Livestock and Meat Markets - Chicago Mercantile Exchange (cents per lb.):
Lean Hogs (April 10) gain $0.18, EOD $73.58
Pork Bellies (May 10) shed $1.70, EOD $93.05
Live Cattle (April 10) gain $0.13, EOD $93.03
Feeder Cattle (April 10) gain $0.38, EOD $105.15

Other Commodities - Chicago Board of Trade (cents per bushel):
Corn (May 10) shed $3.75, EOD $383.25
Soybeans (May 10) shed $21.50, EOD $942.00

BOND MARKET:
2 year EOD 100 1/32, change -3/32, Yield 0.85, Yield change 0.04
5 year EOD 100 15/32, change -1/32, Yield 2.27 Yield change 0.01
10 year EOD 100 5/32, change 4/32, Yield 3.60 Yield change -0.01
30 year EOD 101 2/32, change 14/32, Yield 4.55, change -0.03

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