| 12:00 ET Dow -124, Nasdaq -61, S&P -22.13: [BRIEFING.COM] Market has been on the defensive since the opening bell, suffering from a bout of profit taking that has ensued in the wake of a weak showing from European bourses and a batch of weaker than expected economic data that have fostered concerns about the resilience of the U.S. consumer... The aforementioned data include a 9K increase to 421K in initial claims for unemployment benefits for the week of April 28 that brought the 4-wk moving average to 405K-- the highest level since October 1992... On top of that, Challenger reported layoff announcements of 165.6K in April, a pace that continues to strengthen and which provides an ominous set-up for tomorrow's employment report... Finally, the non-manufacturing NAPM Index fell to 47.1% in April from 50.3% in March... The fall below the 50% neutral mark was below expectations for 50.2%, and suggests a broadening of scope in terms of the economic downturn... Although the weak data support the case for an aggressive easing to the tune of 50 bp on the part of the Fed at this month's FOMC meeting, equity traders haven't been too comforted by that realization as the idea that the manufacturing recession is spreading to the services side of things has generated some understandable concern about the timing of an economic rebound and the likelihood of an earnings rebound in the second half of the year... Accordingly, selling efforts have been broad-based with financial, technology, and cyclical shares pacing the retreat... It would be remiss of Briefing.com not to point out, however, that the volume at the NYSE and Nasdaq has been moderate... As such, it is still too early to label today's retreat as anything more than a breather from the market's sprint in the past month since sellers, relatively speaking, haven't shown a great deal of conviction... Intel (INTC -1.44), IBM (IBM -1.40), SBC Comm. (SBC -1.31) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ -1.27) are leading the Dow's pullback.... DJTA -1.6%... DJUA -1.5%... Nasdaq 100 -3.6%... S&P Midcap 400 -1.5%... Russell 2000 -1.3%... NYSE Adv/Dec 928/1918... Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1165/2234. |
