9:00am (EST)
Thursday’s action on Wall Street favored the bears ahead of this morning’s Nonfarm Payrolls report.
The Dow dropped 62 points, or 0.5%, to close at 13,206. The blue-chips touched a low of 13,175 but held the 13,200 level after reaching a high of 13,284 intraday. Caterpillar (CAT, $100.67, down $1.96) accounted for negative 14 points which made up 20% of the Dow’s losses after nearly falling below triple-digits. The stock traded to a low of $100.50 and could be headed to $90 or worse on continued weakness.
The S&P 500 fell 11 points, or 0.8%, to settle at 1,391. The index made a brief appearance into positive territory and reached 1,403 before fading. A close below 1,400 would be bullish for next week. Anything below 1,375 would be bearish.
The Nasdaq declined 35 points, or 1.1%, to finish at 3,024. Tech had trouble holding the 3,050 level and fell below short-term support an hour into yesterday’s session. The low for the day was 3,016. Today’s action should have the index below this level or back above 3,050.
This morning’s eagerly awaited jobs report favors the bears as April Nonfarm Payrolls only showed an increase of 115,000 jobs. Wall Street was looking for a number north of 175,000.
Futures are showing a weak open and we couldn’t be happier: Dow (-41); S&P 500 (-4); Nasdaq (-7). Subscribers, check the Members Area for the latest updates and watch your email or Twitter accounts carefully. We could be ringing the register on a few more trades today.