Market comments for March 24th

The data is in for today and the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all climbed once again. This is in spite of the fact that Factory Orders were down 0.9%, as expectations were for a +0.2% gain. You most likely have heard that Initial Jobless Claims were down. Let me share the real data.

Initial Jobless Claims came in at 382K. Now the previous week they were at 385K Initial Jobless Claims. What the media didn't report was that expectations were for the number this week to come in at 370K. So while they brag because it is 3K better than last week, they don't say anything about the fact that they are more than 10K more than were expected. So much for truth reporting.

As I stated earlier, Durable Goods Orders for February came in at -0.9%, while expectations were for +0.2%. Last Month the reading was +3.6%, so the change was significant and not a help to the economy.