Thursday, March 8 Market Recap

THURSDAY (DJIA +71) Weekly jobless claims came in at 362K, a bit higher than expected. It looks like maybe as much as 90% of Greek bonds will take a 53.5% haircut in the debt sway that is being negotiated. Results will be announced before the market opens on Friday. Markets were up today in anticipation of a successful swap.

Wednesday, March 7 Market Recap

WEDNESDAY (DJIA +78) ADP’s Feb. employment report came spot on at 216K estimated jobs created. Investors became more optimistic that Greece would secure the required number of bondholders to convert their debt to the new payment terms. The Fed may continue to try to hold down long term interest rates by using a so-called “sterilized” bond buying tactic. The stock market bounced strongly on these news items.

Tuesday, March 6 Market Recap

TUESDAY (DJIA -204) Taking its cues from Europe, the stock market fell triple digits on concerns that not enough Greek bondholders were going to agree to the haircut, and on worries about slowing economic growth on news that Brazil’s Q4 GDP was up only 2.7%. The ISM services index rose to 57.3; 56.8 was expected. Services are a larger part of our economy than manufacturing and this is a good number, but it was lost amongst other issues today. We’ll know Wed. if Greece got enough participation or not. If not, then a forced rather than a voluntary cram down will result.

Monday, March 5 Market Recap

MONDAY (DJIA -15) China cut its target for 2012 GDP growth to 7.5%; the first time it has set a target below 8% since 2004. The announcement put pressure on commodities. Eurozone PMI’s for Feb. came in at 49.3, indicating a slight contraction in manufacturing. The Dow was down 94pts at one time, but clawed its way back throughout the session.