| 13:00 ET Dow -43, Nasdaq -9, S&P -4.90: [BRIEFING.COM] In light of options expiration, a few important earnings warnings and the fact today is Friday the markets are holding in relatively well. The major averages continue to trade in negative territory though losses remain contained. With this week's interest rate cut and coincident bias towards further easing, the markets have maintained a posture which looks reasonably bullish for the intermediate term. The Fed's easing bias has been (and was intended to be) an influential contributor to recent equity strength as it places the end of the easing cycle in doubt. As consumer confidence is tied to market performance, the sense is a stronger market can quicken the pace of economic recovery. The object is to avoid a cycle in which the market falls, inducing consumer confidence to fail which would exacerbate issues with an already broadly weak economy. On the broader markets, natural gas, oil, restaurants, gold and insurance are experiencing buy interest. This strength is mitigating sell pressure on banks, chemicals, health care, tech, and retail/apparel. DJTA +0.5%... DJUA +0.4%... SOX -0.7%... XOI +1.7%... BTK -1.2%... Nasdaq 100 -0.5%... S&P Midcap 400 -0.4%... Russell 2000 +0.1%... NYSE Adv/Dec 1438/1451... Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1625/1890. |
