Ahead of the open, (13-03)
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 at 06:45AM As is usually the case in the marketplace, as one concern falters (as Greece swap gets a rubber stamp), a new one needs to be rehashed to keep investors honest and ‘Bears’ tweetin’ and in business.
This week kicked off with Global growth concerns overnight following China’s lacklustre trade numbers (decelerating Jan/Feb combined). Is it really any surprise at this point that the European crisis put a dent in demand for China goods?. Of course, there was/will be some internal bleeding, but at this stage it should be discounted to a degree by the market unless complacency is rampant and naiveté abound. The China data pulled the CRB down .8% by the open, .5% by close (has fallen >1% for each of last 2 weeks), yet equities sloshed around on extremely low volume to a flat finish anyway. So far equities are showing their usual resiliency, even in the face of commodity weakness once again. On 01/03 noted the possibility ...”A commodity led correction, but not necessarily one that will take equities down very much!”. Even after last Tuesday’s market ‘commodity’ swoon pushing SP to 1340, equities are back near 2012 highs, while commodities still exhibit weakness.
In all, a very thin and uneventful day as market continues the routine to pause after climbing every ~20-25 SP handles before moving on higher since SP ~1300 was hit. Tuesday is another round of FOMC, maybe the waiting game was in effect today. Even if Bernanke & co' become more ‘ hawkish’ and consequently commodities feel the wrath, it would be interesting to see if single stocks/groups continue to decouple and hold up.