The market continued to rally during the final session of the week. By close, all three major indexes were higher by more than 1%. For the week, both the Dow and the S&P 500 were up around 3%, which was enough to send them back into positive territory for the year. The biggest economic news of the day was the non-farm payrolls report, which came in better than expected. The report showed that employers cut 36K jobs in February while economists on average had expected a cut of 50K. The unemployment rate also held steady at 9.7% compared with a slight increase expected.  Before the release of the job report, some had feared of a far worse reading due to weather condition. It is estimated that around 100K job losses could occur because of that.

All 10 major sectors finished the session higher led by energy and financials. The CRB commodity index rose 0.8%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasury yields were higher. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 25 bps. The VIX index dropped more than one point. The market breath was postive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was a little heavier compared to the previous session.

The market finished the Thursday modestly higher. The S&P 500 posted its fifth consecutive gain while the Dow was back into the positive territory for the year. We had some mixed news in today’s trading. Most chain retailers reported better-than-expected same store sales figures for February. Weekly jobless claims fell to 469K, mostly in-line with expectation. But pending home sales unexpectedly fell 7.6% in January from December. Sales contracts also fell to the lowest level since April. Based on the current trend, we may see a double dip in the housing prices, which could be a negative factor for the market going forward.  

Most major sectors finished the session higher led by consumer discretionary and financials. The CRB commodity index lost 1.1%. The US dollar was higher against most major currencies. Treasury yields were mixed. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 25 bps. The VIX index dropped less than one point. The market breath was postive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was a little lighter compared to the previous session.

The market finished the Wednesday in a mixed fashion. There is little market moving news and traders are hesitant to place big bets ahead of Friday’s non-farm payroll report. Most economic news for the session came in better or in-line with expectation. The February ADP Employment report indicated that 20K private jobs were cut. The ISM Services Index for February came in at 53.0, which was better than 51 forecasted. It was also the highest reading since October 2007. Separately, the Fed’s latest Beige Book indicated that nine of the 12 Fed districts showed modest improvement in economic activity during February.  

Most major sectors finished the session higher led by materials and energy. The CRB commodity index rose 0.9%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasury yields rose. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 25 bps. The VIX index dropped less than one point. The market breath was neutral on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was a little lighter compared to the previous session.

The market extended its rally to a third consecutive session although it finished the session well off its highs. One week from today will mark the one-year anniversary of the Great Recession bottom for the equity market. On March 9th 2009, the Dow closed at 6,547, a fresh 12-year low at that time. One month later or on April 9th, the Dow was back above 8,000. It regained the 10,000 mark on October 14th or a little more than 7 months after reaching its bottom. Since then, the market has moved in a rather narrow range for almost 5 months. Fundamentally, the market reached its bottom when the economy was at its worst time. The nation lost on average 600K jobs during the first three months of 2009. GDP shrank more than 6% during the quarter. The ISM manufacturing index reached its lowest level in years in March. But the world didn’t come to an end. Almost one year later, we are approaching a point that the non-farm payrolls will start to add net positions. GDP, meanwhile, grew almost 6% in the latest quarter. The ISM manufacturing index is also solidly above 50, which usually is considered to indicate expansion in that area. Interestingly, investors redeemed their mutual funds at the fastest pace in years at exactly the bottom of the market. During the first two weeks of last March, investors took out more than $16 billion from equity funds.

Most major sectors finished the session higher led by materials and energy. The CRB commodity index rose 0.9%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasury yields were mixed. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 25 bps. The VIX index dropped less than one point. The market breath was positive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was a little heavier compared to the previous session.

The market started the first session of the new week and month in a rather positive tone. By close, all three major indexes extended their rally from last Friday and closed higher by around 1%. The S&P 500 is back into positive for the year. Buyout news that AIG agreed to sell its Asian life insurance business to Prudential for $35 billion was cited as the main reason behind today’s rally. But it should be noted that the rally came during a session with wide movements in the currency market. Several major foreign currencies including British Pound, Canadian Dollar and the Euro moved more than 1% within a short period of time. We should always keep in mind that foreign currency market is the largest market among all financial instruments with daily trading volume easily topping $2 trillion. If volatility continues to happen in the currency market, I expect it will spread into the equity market very soon. Separately, the Commerce Department reported that personal spending rose 0.5% in January, slightly higher than 0.4% consensus. Personal income, however, grew less than expected at a 0.1% pace.

All 10 major sectors finished the session higher led by materials and consumer discretionary. The CRB commodity index dipped 0.8%. The US dollar was higher against most major currencies. Treasury yields were mixed. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 25 bps. The VIX index dropped less than one point. The market breath was positive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was neutral compared to the previous session.