Friday, August 13, 2010

Market comments for Aug. 13th: That's Friday the 13th bad luck! UPDATE

Here we stand on Friday the 13th all wondering whether the direction of the stock market will have a reversal today based upon the recent few days Candlestick patterns, because that is what the patterns say. We should have a minor reversal today. Economic data will not be the determinant today. It won't be the social mood of traders. It will be whether the Fed wants the market to go down another day ending the week.

Even though we expect CPI data today to come in near zero or a negative reading adding to the deflationary case that has been made by many including me, it will not be the decisive data to determine market trend. That direction will need one more week to be determined. Next Friday is Options Expiration for August and 2 weeks before the start of school. Speaking of the return to school, Retail Sales numbers will shed more light on the Consumer as its data is to be released momentarily. Dow Futures before the data release was at -27 for the Dow. So here is the data:

CPI for July came in at +0.3% The market had expected +0.2%. The prior month's reading was -0.1%
Core CPI for July came in at +0.1%The market had expected +0.1%. The prior month's reading was +0.1%

Retail Sales came in at +0.4%. The market had expected +0.5%. The prior month's reading was -0.5%.
Retail Sales ex Autos came in at +0.2%. The market expected +0.4%. The prior month's reading was -0.1%.

The Dow Futures have now moved more negative with the Dow Futures now at -50, so the initial quick reaction was more negative. TIME WILL TELL WHETHER THIS PLAYS OUT FOR THE ENTIRE DAY TODAY.

Michigan Sentiment comes in in about 1 hour and 25 minutes at 9:55am EST or 6:55am PST and I will update this post top add the data so be sure to check back if you are as interested as I am to post it. The market expects 70.0. The prior month's data was 67.80.

Be sure also to visit over the weekend as I will post some charts and show where we are headed and where resistance is on both the Dow and S&P 500. You see on a micro level it is much harder to determine short term market direction. But at a Macro level it is much clearer. Thanks for visiting the site. I also am going to post soon several non stock market commentaries. One will be on the Proposition 8 Court decision which took place this week reversing the ban on Gay Marriage on Constitutional Grounds. The other article I am working on is about opinions by the Chamber of Commerce on Prop 19 in California, which would legalize Marijuana use in California for adults. I have some definite thoughts on both topics.

As I finish writing this post, the Dow Futures have recovered to only -6. So it might not be that bad a Friday the 13th for the Longs but instead could be for the Shorts. Have a nice weekend.

UPDATE: 6:55am PST

Michigan Consumer Sentiment came in at 69.6%, which was not quite 70.0 but close and better than July.

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