It’s amazing that obvious bad news does not send the market into a tailspin. This was the case yesterday as bulls and bears exchanged punches with no clear winner apparent.
Causing some upheaval was the ADP National Employment report, which pointed to falling private employment during September. To be exact, U.S. companies shed some 39,000 positions in September after having added 10,000 in August. Expectations were an increase of 18,000; surely a disappointment.
This is only a precursor of what is to come on Friday when the big jobs report will be released. It’s hard to imagine what ammunition the bulls might use to drive this market higher, should those numbers come in worse than expected. However, these days you never know. Maybe all this strength is simply because father Fed has promised to put a floor under the U.S. economy and save it from an early demise.
While the markets meandered in response to yesterday’s news, the dollar dropped while gold rose again. Bonds rallied indicating to me that more economic weakness lies ahead.
Of course, none of this matters if the jobs report comes out to be half way decent, or is interpreted as such. In that case, you could see the bulls attempting to attack the Dow 11,000 level and subsequently head for the S&P; 1,200 milestone.