1:35pm (EST)
Futures were pointing towards a weak open here at home when the overseas markets opened this morning and we knew when we saw the European banks selling off it could lead to a nasty day here. Economic news has been disappointing on some fronts, a shocker on others, which has added to the selling pressure.
Wall Street got its first piece of negative news when Initial Claims came in at 408,000, which was above expectations for 400,000 claims. This report was a Debbie Downer following last week’s print under 400,000 claims which had been the first time since April the number had fallen below 400,000. But Obama has a plan…
Elsewhere, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 0.5% in July versus estimates for a 0.2% pop. Core CPI gained 0.2%, which was in-line with forecasts. However, the hammer came down with the Philly Fed numbers which came in at -30.7 for August, far worse than the expectations for a reading of 1.0, and down from 3.2 posted last month.
And finally, the cherry on top, Existing Home Sales for July were 4.67 million versus expectations for 4.87 million units.
As we head into the second half of trading here is how we look:
The Dow is down 447 points to 10,963. The index is below the 11,000 mark which we said to watch for today. The S&P 500 is lower by 54 points to 1,140 and we have been penciling-in a test back down to 1,150. Bingo.
The Nasdaq is down triple-digits, or 121 points to 2,390 and has traded to a low of 2,376. We nailed this one too as we said to watch the 2,400 level today.
We have been warning our readers the bears were still hungry and that market bottoms are a process rather than an event. We have much more we want to share with you but we need to get inside our Members Area and talk about our put option trades which are showing strong gains today.
We will be back in the morning with a fresh update and some new targets for you. Well, they aren’t really new because we mentioned them Sunday night in our Weekly Wrap. Folks, remember, if you sign-up for our Daily newsletter, you will also get a month of the Weekly Wrap at no charge until mid-September. We have some incredible strategies we will be introducing to you so we want to make sure you are on board.
Subscribers, check for the updates inside the Members Area to get our latest thoughts on our option trade recommendations.
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